


This is the New Year (Larry Mpreg)

by yvessaintlourry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, College, Dad - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Gay, Happy Ending, Larents, Louis Tomlinson/Harry Styles - Freeform, M/M, Male Pregnancy, Mpreg, Mpreg Harry, Mpreg Louis, Obvious Plot Twist, Parents, Possible smut, Pregnancy, Pregnant Louis, Smut, Sperm Donor, University, University Student Harry, dads, direction, harry styles/louis tomlinson - Freeform, i really don't know how to tag so I'm just bsing rn, larry - Freeform, one - Freeform, one direction - Freeform, parent, sperm bank, stylinson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:17:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 50,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9475307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yvessaintlourry/pseuds/yvessaintlourry
Summary: Harry is a broke university student, and he'd do anything at this point for some extra cash. Louis wants a kid, and he's done waiting for the right man to come around.Or the one where Louis chooses sperm donor #072310 to be the father of his child.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Feel free to follow me on instagram (@yvessaintlarry) !!! or on my rinsta (@casifist) !!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (((ORIGINALLY POSTED LATER IN THE STORY)))
> 
> Hey, guys!
> 
> Sorry if you thought this was an update, but I kind of just need to say something really quickly -
> 
> It was brought to my attention yesterday by a very lovely person that my story, "This is the New Year," was taken and published on Wattpad, a site I haven't actually used in years, without my permission by a user who I won't name right now so that she keeps her privacy. (If that changes, it's probably because she reposted it or something, which I honestly don't think she's going to do. She was very nice about taking it down.) 
> 
> Anyways, this person decided to claim my work as her own and just copy and paste my work into Wattpad. I politely asked her to take it down, and she did, which I appreciate a lot, but the main point of this mini-rant is:
> 
> If you see "This is the New Year" on any site that I do not mention below, please, please bring it to my attention so that I can make sure it doesn't happen anymore.
> 
> AO3 - User: Casifist
> 
> Quotev - User: MostlyPositive
> 
> As of now, it's on Wattpad :) - User: Casifist 
> 
> This might seem slightly extra to some of you, but when you work so hard on something and you put your heart and soul into it, it isn't exactly the most exciting thing in the world when someone steals what you've created. Especially when they take it word for word. 
> 
> This whole thing has actually made me think about whether or not I even want to continue my fic, because it was very upsetting that I had to tell someone to stop stealing my work.
> 
> Anyways, I'm sorry about this note, but I just needed to tell you guys :)
> 
> The next chapter (or chapters, depending on how I'm feeling) should be out in the next couple of days.
> 
> Thank y'all so much for reading and enjoying my story, and I hope it continues to put a smile on your faces:)
> 
> -Cass

Walking into the coffee shop, Harry's eyes immediately focused on the line of about 12 people standing in front of himself. He groaned to himself and wished he had gotten his ass out of bed after the first time he snoozed his alarm, as his first class of his last semester in Uni begins in precisely 13 minutes, and it is definitely on the other side of campus.  
In his defense, there isn't a coffee shop on that side of campus, and Harry is absolutely wretched without his morning coffee. Or at least that's what he tells himself.  
It's the 17th of January, and university is finally beginning again after the winter holiday. Harry Styles is a 22 year old-going on 23- Law major with a double minor in business and sociology at a university in London, England that is scooping up any and all money that he acquires through his part-time job at one of the many local bakeries.  
Harry finally makes it to the front of the line about 10 minutes after he decides that the coffee is worth the 5 minutes and counting that he was already late to class.  
Harry says his usual "hello, how's your morning?" pleasantries before ordering. "Can I have a regular coffee, please," at this point, Harry feels the familiar pangs of hunger, "and also a turkey and egg breakfast sandwich, if you could."  
"Of course, Dear," the warm barista smiles at him. "That'll be 7 pound 76."  
Harry's face grows warm as he realizes that he only has 5 pounds, and he's going to want coffee tomorrow. "Um, do you think you could cancel the sandwich?" the barista smiles and complies to his request. Harry apologizes one too many times for 'inconveniencing' her, and nods a 'thank you' to her as she hands him his coffee.  
Turning on his heels to head to the class that he's already about 20 minutes late for, he heads out the door and speed walks his way across campus, trying his hardest to think of some way he could make some extra money.


	2. Two

Louis hates his job.  
Not only does Louis hate his job, but he also hates relationships.  
Or, to be clear, Louis adores relationships, but he hates that every person that he has ever wanted to be in a relationship with has had some sort of phobia of commitment or a reason to break up with Louis when things start getting serious.  
All Louis wants is someone to settle down with.  
More than that, Louis wants a child. And, to be honest, he's not getting any younger. Or, at least, that's what he says. He's only 25, but he feels like he's 40 and that his child-bearing days will be coming to an end any day now.   
Louis never found something that he really wanted to do for the rest of his life. There was no path to his ultimate happiness that also led to his being able to live comfortably. As of right now, Louis has a desk job as an assistant to "some rich dude" as he puts it whenever anyone asks.   
"Mr. Montgomery, you have a call from Elana Pierce on line 1," Louis says to his boss over the phone intercom system.  
"Thank you, Louis. Keep me updated on any emails from Mr. Dobrev. He's supposed to be sending in the rough contract for our deal with Meyerson."  
"Yes, sir."  
"Oh, and make an appointment with Ms. Petrova for tomorrow around 4. We really need her cooperation for the summer project."  
"Of course, sir."  
Louis really can't stand being someone's personal mule. Even if it's not a necessarily difficult job, it really is quite a boring one.  
The only full time job Louis really wants is to be a dad. He also wouldn't mind teaching, but god knows teachers don't get paid near enough.  
Louis spends all his free time at work googling how to make a man want to commit for life or Pinterest hacks for decorating on a dime.  
Long story short, men don't commit, and a dime can go pretty far if you want to spend all of the time you're at home doing incredibly frustrating DIYs.   
'Maybe I should just give up on men,' Louis thinks. 'Obviously a good one isn't coming my way anytime soon.'


	3. Three

Harry is about 3 weeks into his last semester of Uni when he starts really looking for easy ways to make a little extra money to help him through his already monstrous pile of debt. So far he's just seen a lot of survey websites that just seem like total scams.  
He weighs his options. Strippers make a lot of money. And, honestly, Harry doesn't think of himself as a bad-looking guy. He's actually pretty okay in his opinion. After thinking that through for about 4 minutes, Harry decides he's not coordinated enough to be a stripper.  
Although he finds his knock-knock jokes and puns hilarious, he doesn't believe that others will like him enough for him to be able to make any significant amount of money by doing stand-up.  
Fun fact: Harry was going to try out for the X-Factor when he was 16, but he decided against it at the last minute. What are the odds he would make it, y'know? 'Would've been fun,' Harry thinks to himself.  
Harry scrunches his eyebrows at the search result that he sees at the bottom of the 17th google page.  
'You can make up to 1000 pounds a month by donating sperm?' Harry ponders. He doesn't seriously think he'd actually end up doing this, but the thought intrigued Harry. He looks into the topic further.  
Sperm banks London  
Requirements for donating sperm  
Drawbacks to donating sperm  
Where can I donate my sperm?  
Process of donating sperm  
"That's it? I just... Get off into a cup, and they give me 1000 pounds?" Harry says aloud to himself. "No," Harry slams his computer shut and tosses it to the other side of his couch, shocked he was even considering allowing the possibility of having dozens of his children running around without his knowledge.   
'Then again,' he thinks. 'I would never know. I probably wouldn't even get picked. There are hundreds of thousands of other donations people could pick from. The odds mine would get picked are slim.'  
"No, this is ridiculous, I can't do that," Harry decides. He thinks he decided, at least.  
Just then, Harry's flatmate, Niall, walks in, sweaty and smelly from the gym, startling Harry. Harry instinctively grabs a throw pillow and throws it over his laptop to draw attention away from it. Sadly for Harry, all that did was draw attention directly to the laptop, and more importantly, to why Harry tried to hide the laptop.  
Niall's face scrunched up in disgust. "Mate, if you're gonna watch porn, watch it in your room, and get away from my couch."  
Harry's eyes widen. "N-no! I was just-"  
"Yeah, I know what you were doin', mate." Niall smirks, walking down the hall to the bathroom.  
"I wasn't doing that!" Harry yells after him, as he shuts the bathroom door. Harry groans and flops onto his stomach, slamming his face into the pillow in embarrassment. "I'm just trying to make some money," he grumbles to himself.


	4. Four

On a surprisingly sunny, but incredibly chilly Saturday in February, while online shopping for new t-shirts to wear on the days that he doesn't have to work, Louis 'somehow' 'accidentally' wanders onto the section of the website dedicated to baby clothes. And cries. A lot. Quite a bit of the reason is because, again, he keeps imagining all the things that could go wrong with his womb before the 'right man' comes around to help him conceive a child. More of the reason is that he doesn't think the 'right man' exists or will ever come around. But his outburst had the most to do with his incredibly sickening baby fever. (Literally sickening. He has thrown up before thinking about babies because of just how much he wants them.)  
So there Louis is, sitting on his couch, at 2 p.m. on a Saturday, bawling his eyes out over something as silly as baby clothes, wearing joggers with unruly, unwashed hair. 'No wonder I can't hold a bloke down,' Louis thinks to himself. 'I'm a right mess.' With that thought, Louis sighs, closing his computer, and stands up to head to go take a shower. All the while he's in there, he can only think about having someone to shower with.  
Now, don't get Louis wrong. He's all about being a strong, independent man who doesn't need a man to complete him. But it would just be nice, you know?  
After standing in the same position for 20 minutes and scrubbing his body, Louis decides to get out and make himself at least somewhat presentable for, well, himself. Always a good thing to like how you look, innit? He styles his usual fringe for that amazing 'I woke up like this' look that he adores and put his most comfortable pair of jeans on, because, he's not going anywhere, why would he put his less comfortable jeans on to sit on a couch?  
He decides that his sanity can take one more scroll through the baby section of the clothing website, and he scrolls and scrolls for about 7 pages when he sees an ad.   
"London Cryobank," he reads quietly to himself. He's intrigued both by the name and by the really cute baby they have a picture of on their advertisement. His eyebrows furrow before clicking on the face of the baby and seeing a new tab open and a white screen appear. 'A sperm bank?' he inquires, looking deeper into the website.  
He spends at the very least an hour going through every page on the website, and before Louis can even comprehend what's happening, he's clicking 'Make an Appointment' on the home page.


	5. Five

Harry has spent a good two and a half weeks thinking about whether or not to donate his sperm. Just as he thinks that he's made his decision, his electric bill comes in, and as it turns out, Niall has been completely forgetting to turn off the lights in his bedroom the whole month long. And Harry is broke, so he basically can't pay his half.  
Harry sighs and lays his head onto the counter in his kitchen, wanting to melt away and not have to deal with 'adult problems.' He doesn't feel like an adult, so why should he have to deal with these terrible, terrible, adult consequences. He misses his mother.  
"Hi, Mum," Harry says into the speaker of his phone. "How are you doing?"  
"I'm doing just great, my darling, how's about you?" his mother answers back, making a smile creep onto his face. He really loves his mother.  
"I'm doing just fine, Mum. Little stressed at the moment, but I'll get through it."  
"That's my boy. Why so stressed?"  
"It's just small stuff. Have a test tomorrow, and I haven't even looked at the material. I keep getting to another one of my classes late because it's just so far away from the closest coffee shop, so I don't think that the professor likes me all that much," Harry laughs.  
"Someone doesn't like my son? Impossible," Anne jokes. Harry laughs, but, of course, it was no joke to her. How could anyone not like her son? She has the best son in the world as far as she's concerned.  
"Thanks, Mum," he mumbles, smiling to himself.  
"Best son I could have ever asked for." That is the truest statement Anne could have ever said. "I miss you, Bub. When you coming home to visit?"  
"Easter Holiday is next month, so I'll try to come by for a while then."  
"That sounds perfect, my boy. I've got to go now, me and your sister are going on a dinner date and I've just arrived at the restaurant."  
"Alright, Mum. I love you. Send Gem my love as well."  
"Of course, sweetheart. I love you more."  
"Bye, Mum," Harry says before hanging up the phone. That conversation was a nice break from reality for Harry. He really does miss his mum, and he'll most definitely be visiting her next month.  
Coming back to reality, Harry nervously opens his laptop and types 'sperm banks near me' into Google.  
Top result: London Cryobank - Be a Donor - Find a Donor - Live Happily Ever After  
Harry clicked the link with haste and looked through all that he could look through before finally making himself click on 'Make a Donation.'


	6. Six

Harry doesn't really know how to feel about what he was doing. Overall, it was just an incredibly awkward experience. He arrived at the Cryobank about 10 minutes before he was supposed to, and he waited about 12 for a "sample room," as the doctor called it, to open up.

"If you could just fill this biography out before you go in, that would be great, and then you'll be all set," the woman at the front desk, Denise, it seems, chirped. Harry nodded and sat down in the chair he was in before.

Donor ID #: 072310

DOB: 1st February, 1994

Ethnicity: White

Hair Color: Brown

Hair Type: Wavy/Curly (It depends on the day, really.)

Eye Color: Green

Build: Tall, Lanky, String Bean

Height: 6'0"

Aspirations: All I really want in life is happiness and love. 

Schooling Background: I am a final year law major with a double minor in business and sociology.

Bio: I'm an aspiring lawyer. I know what you're thinking. A lawyer? Boring! But, I hope to specialize in civil rights and help those who are treated unfairly. Okay, that might still sound slightly boring, but I just want to help people, you know? Anyways, I think I'm quite a funny guy, especially if you enjoy knock-knock jokes and puns. I'm very compassionate and loving, and family is the most important thing in my life.

Harry wasn't really sure what else he could put in his bio, but he didn't really see himself as a very interesting person. That gave him some slight relief, because maybe no one looking for a donor would think that he was interesting either? Maybe.

They gave him a magazine full of naked women, and he really didn't want to make it even more awkward by telling them that he was, in no way, attracted to women, so he just nodded a thanks and made his way to the sample room.

How am I supposed to get off to this? Harry thought, staring down at the woman on the cover of the magazine. Harry looked at the cup that he had placed on the sink and sighed, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to picture any porn he's recently watched that could do the job.

It took him less time than he thought it would to get the job done, but he soon realized that it was a little more time than he was comfortable with when he walked out and the woman at the front desk said, "All good?" and he nodded. Handing her the sample, he presented her with an awkward smile, which she warmly returned. "How would you like to receive your payment? Check or card?"

"Card would be perfect, please. Thank you," Harry replied, retrieving his debit card from his wallet and handing it to her.

She did her little swipe thing and pressed a few buttons before handing him his card back. "Thank you so much for donating. I'm sure that you'll make a couple very happy someday," she smiled. That comment made Harry feel quite sick, but he kept his composure.

"Thank you," he smiled back, turning on his heels.

On his way out, he noticed a small, nervous-looking bloke with brown hair and big doe eyes. Harry stared at the pretty boy for a second too long, and he could tell the boy noticed when his blue eyes pierced into Harry's green. Harry knew it was too late for him to turn away and act like he wasn't staring into his soul, so he gave an awkward smile and wave, before the boy's gaze shot away from his.

"Louis?" the doctor called, and the boy quickly sprung up, twiddling nervously.

Harry mentally face-palmed and walked swiftly out the door.


	7. Seven

Louis looked behind him to see if the tall attractive man was still admiring his beauty, and was admittedly disappointed when he saw him exiting the doors to the building.

"Mr. Tomlinson, if you would, could you take this book and see if you fall in love with a donor," the doctor asked. "If you find one you like today, I can take a look at you and see when you'll be ready to inseminate, alright? More books where that came from."

"Perfect, thank you so much," Louis smiled. He thought that he would be more nervous about this whole thing. Well, he is nervous, but he's mostly excited, surprisingly enough. Louis looked through about 7 books before one intrigued him.   
"Donor #963807," he whispered quietly to himself. "Blonde hair, brown eyes, dad-bod," Louis laughed at the phrasing. "He's a gymnast. That's interesting," Louis was impressed, to say the least. But then, "Family history of heart defects," Louis frowned. He didn't want to put his child through that. The bio didn't say if it was a serious defect or not, so Louis chose not to take the chance.

He stood up and walked over to the woman at the front desk. "Hi, Denise. Are there anymore donor books?"

She nodded "Just one right now. If you don't find one today, there will be more next week."

"Thanks, love," he smiled, sitting back down. He really wanted to find a donor today. He wants a child as soon as possible.

He flipped through about 13 pages before "Donor #072310," he was losing hope and was really just skimming through bios at this point, but this one caught his eye for some reason. "He's smart, he's tall, so maybe my child will at least be average height. He has quite the cheesy sense of humor, but I'll take it."

He hopped up and walked over to Denise, a pep in his step and grinned. "I found the one, Denise."

"Yay!" she cheered, taking the book from Louis to examine his decision. Her eyebrows raised, and she smiled. Before Louis could ask about her facial expression, Denise buzzed the doctor in and he walked in the room about 3 minutes later. "Hi, Dr. Langley, Louis here has found the one."

"Perfect!" Dr. Langley enthused. "Just in time for me to fit you in for an exam. Want to come back with me?"

"Absolutely." Louis was so excited. He was about to find out when he would get to conceive a child, and that thought made him so happy. So, so incredibly terrified, but also happy.

About 10 minutes later, Louis's legs were in the air, and there was a metal contraption holding his you-know-what open. Quite the uncomfortable position.

"Well, Louis. Actually, today would be your best bet for this month." Louis's eyes went wide.

"Really? Today?"

"You could also wait until next month, that would not be a problem either."

"No, no, no, we can do it now, I just wasn't expecting it to happen so quickly, if I'm honest," Louis breathed.

Dr. Langley chuckled. "You're a lucky one. I'll go get the sample ready right now."

"Thank you so much." Louis was glowing with happiness. 

The doctor came back in about 15 minutes with the sample, and Louis definitely, definitely cried.

Happy tears, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I am aware that this isn't at all what going through this process is like, but I kind of just wanted to hurry up and get to this point in the story! I hope you enjoyed!


	8. Eight

Harry has been staring blankly at the black screen of his television since he arrived home from the sperm bank almost an hour ago. His phone was open to show the recent addition of 1000 pounds to his bank account, while his eyes were open to show his dry green eyes. 

"You okay?" Niall says with an eyebrow cocked, entering the room and making his way into their kitchen. He pauses when Harry doesn't reply and walks up to the back of the couch Harry is sitting on. "Harry," Niall says, waiting for any acknowledgment. He gets none. "Harry!" he almost yells.

Harry jumps slightly, and his focus is moved to Niall. "Oh, hey, Niall," Harry says in a quieter voice than usual.

"Are you alright?" Niall asks, leaning on the back of the couch.

"Oh, um, yeah. I made 1000 pounds today," Harry says, looking down at his phone.

"What?" Niall asks, confused. "What the hell kind of bakery do you work in?"

"Um, I didn't go to work today," Harry swallowed. "I kind of went to a sperm bank," he finishes, his voice raising slightly as if he was asking a question.

"What? You, like, made a donation?" Niall asked, and Harry nodded. "And you got 1000 bucks for it?" Harry nodded again. 

"Not going to lie, Niall, it's stressing me out quite a bit."

"Why?"

"What if someone chooses my... sample?" Harry's face scrunches up at the thought.

"Then you potentially make someone very happy," Niall shrugs. "It's alright, Harry. You probably won't even be chosen."

"Yeah, I guess."

"If you're going to be this stressed out about this, let's go out tonight to get your mind off of it, alright?" Niall says.

"Niall, I don't really feel-"

"Yeah, we're going out. Go get changed," Niall interrupts while running back to his room to go get ready.

Harry sighs and throws his head into the back of the couch, groaning. "I swear if he takes me to another Irish pub, I'm going to implode," he grumbles to himself as he stands up and trudges back to his room.


	9. Nine

Louis can't believe what he's just done. Don't get him wrong, he is incredibly happy about his decision, but he's just now realized that he is not ready to have a child. When he says "ready," he doesn't mean mentally ready. He's completely mentally ready to have a baby. At least he thinks he is. When he says "ready," he means that he has nothing he needs to have a child. He is not in a big enough flat to have a child. He has no idea how to not kill a child.

Louis could be getting pregnant right now, and that thought makes him smile from ear to ear.

He spends the majority of that night making an Amazon wish list for all the major things he knows he'll need if he does, in fact, become pregnant. He also begins looking for 2 bedroom flats within his price range and has a surprisingly difficult time finding one he likes.

He realizes that he's actually very hungry around his third hour of surfing the internet and decides to check his kitchen for any food that might have magically appeared since this morning when he had to get a McDonald's breakfast. He sighs after checking his fridge for the fifth time and decides that he'll get takeout tonight and go grocery shopping tomorrow.

He slips on some sneakers and retreats out his front door, choosing to walk instead of drive because it is just an exceptionally beautiful night tonight. You can see more stars than usual because of the lack of clouds blocking the view of the sky, and it was a quite pleasant temperature for a February night. 

He gets to his favorite 24 hour sushi restaurant and orders a Temaki roll along with some udon. He mentally reminds himself to call ahead next time so that he doesn't need to wait 20 minutes at a table by himself in order to get his order.

While he waits, he scrolls through every form of social media he has, and when he runs out of social media, he gets back onto Amazon and continues searching for baby necessities. As of this moment, the only other people in here with him are the employees and a girl who looks to be about 18 or 19 who is ever so focused on her laptop. Louis assumes she's either writing an essay or having an argument with somebody via social media because of the intensity with which she's staring at her screen. 

Just as the girl seems to be finishing up whatever she's typing so intently, a man and a woman who look to be in their last years of university enter the restaurant. 

"Niall, I told you not to have that last shot. Or rather, those last 3 shots," the girl says. The boy, Niall, just laughs slightly too hard and trips over his own feet, using the girl as someone to steady himself with. "Niall! Be careful, you almost ripped off my scarf," the girl scolds, pulling a chair out for Niall and quickly pinning her scarf back into place and moving the front slightly forward so that it covered her hairline once again. "Good god, man, you'd think you'd be better at handling your alcohol by now. Now give me your wallet, I'm going to get us some food," she said, holding her hand out. He reached into his back pocket and did as she said.

Another man walks in, and Louis finds him quite familiar, but he can't put his finger on where he's seen him before.

"Louis!" the chef calls out, holding a bag of food with Louis's name on it. 

'Finally,' Louis thinks to himself. He smiles at the man and thanks him as he takes the bag from him and turns around on his heel. As he turns, he makes direct contact with what feels like a wall, but is actually a human. This collision causes Louis to drop his wallet, phone, and keys onto the concrete floor. 

"Oops!" the human says. He immediately bends over to pick up Louis's belongings before Louis has a chance to. He stands back up and Louis realizes then just how tall this stranger is, and he notices how chiseled his jawline is and how green his eyes are when Louis's eyes meet his face. "Sorry about that," the man apologizes.

"Hi," Louis breathes out, captured by this man's beauty. He sees the man chuckle at his response to his apology and quickly comes back to reality. "I mean," Louis starts. "If you wanted to talk to me, you could have just said 'hello.'"

The man laughs quietly at Louis's joke. "I'll be sure to remember that for next time."

"Right, well, I must get going then," Louis says after a breath, walking around the brunette and towards the door. He barely makes it outside when he hears the bells on the door jingle again and the deep voice of the stranger ring in his ears.

"Wait, Louis," the man calls after him. Louis can hear his feet jogging after him, but he doesn't turn around. Louis is really not in the mood for a fling at this point in his life. The man catches up to him and begins to walk slowly beside him. "It's like 2 in the morning."

"It is," Louis says, nodding his head sarcastically.

"Would you like me to walk you home at this late hour?"

"No offense, Mate, but as you said, it's like 2 in the morning. I'm not letting some random stranger that ran into me at a 24 hour sushi restaurant know where I live."

"That's a fair point," the man says, holding out his hand and flashing probably one of the most beautiful smiles Louis has ever seen. "I'm Harry."

"Nice to meet you, Harry, but I have things in both of my hands so I won't be shaking yours, and you need to go help your friend with your other drunk friend. She seems to be quite annoyed with him," Louis says, smirking up in Harry's direction and pointing back at the two. The girl was currently trying to get Niall to sober up by eating sushi in the parking lot.

"Maybe next time, then," Harry smiles down at Louis. 

"Sure, Harold. Next time," Louis breathes out a laugh, and Harry smiles at him once more before running back to his friends.

"Naila, don't let him eat the sushi he dropped on the ground!" Harry shouts, letting out a shrill laugh that really doesn't seem like it should come from someone with such a deep voice.

Louis spends the entirety of his walk home pondering the thought of that beautiful man and thinking about the chances of them ever meeting again. He also thinks about if they do meet again, what are the chances that Harry would want to be with someone who's pregnant? He rolls his eyes at himself, as London's quite big, so the likelihood of them ever seeing each other again is next to nothing.


	10. Ten

It's been almost a month since Harry donated his sperm, and he's come to terms with his decision to do so. He really, 100% doesn't think anyone will pick his file out of the 1000's of others they could choose, so he's just not worried about it. He hasn't even thought about it in about 3 weeks, and honestly, it's been completely put out of his mind. As of right now, all Harry can think about is finally graduating in May.

Today marks the first day of Harry's 6 week internship in a local law office, Dobrev & Sanders, and he's not sure if the feeling that he's experiencing is extreme excitement or sheer terror. 

He will be spending his internship as a personal assistant to Derrick Dobrev himself, and his responsibilities are as follows: coffee runs, delivering contracts, making appointments, answering his phone, etc., etc. While being an assistant wasn't necessarily Harry's first choice, he's glad to be getting the oppurtunity to make an impression on a well-known lawyer like Dobrev. If all goes as planned, Harry will hopefully be offered a job that he actually gets paid for by the time his internship ends. Fingers crossed.

Harry took a deep breath as he opened the glass door to enter into the next 6 weeks of his life. He noticed a woman in a very snazzy suit in his opinion walking towards the door, and he held the door open for her without thinking about it. Because this building has 7 stories and he has no idea where he's going, Harry decides to ask the first receptionist he sees where he should go. He's not worried about being late at this point because there are still 20 minutes before he needs to be in the presence of Mr. Dobrev.

"Excuse me, would you happen to know where I can find Mr. Dobrev's office? I'm his new assistant," Harry asks politely.

"Name?" the receptionist asks without looking up at him.

"Harry Styles," he replies.

"Ah, yes, the intern. Lovely," she says with a smile. "Well, Mr. Styles, Mr. Dobrev is on the 6th floor, and once you're there, his secretary will show you to him."

"Thank you so much," he smiles, turning on his heels and heading to an elevator.

Harry makes it to the 6th floor without the elevator stopping on the way and heads straight towards the secretary. "Hello there, I'm Harry Styles, Mr. Dobrev's-"

"New assistant?" the secretary asks, and Harry nods. The secretary seems quite tall, but Harry can't tell while he's sitting down. His name tag reads 'Liam,' and Harry notes that Liam is quite attractive. Maybe slightly too buff for Harry's type, but attractive nonetheless. "Alright there, mate, well here is your name tag, your company card, only to be used for company matters, your work phone, and your bluetooth. The phone has all of the numbers of Mr. Dobrev's current clients and business partners. The bluetooth is already connected to the phone, so just put it in your ear and when you hear a beep press either the button on the side of the bluetooth or answer the call with the phone. It works either way. Mr. Dobrev's office is just through those doors," Liam explains, motioning to his right, and Harry nods a 'thank you' with a smile. "Oh, and never be less than 5 minutes early. On time is late and early is on time," Liam smiles.

"Thank you, Liam," Harry replies before taking a deep breath and entering through the glass double doors.

When he first walks up to Dobrev's office, the door is open, so he knocks on the frame. Dobrev motions him into the room with a wave of his hand, and Harry slips his name tag on and his bluetooth in while he waits patiently for Dobrev to finish his phone call.

"Montgomery. I've told you once and I'll tell you again: the contract will be complete by early next week. Meyerson is just fixing up some of the kinks in the contract and once you approve them, they'll be ready to sign," Dobrev says, seeming quite annoyed. "He knows that you only have a month until you need to start planning. That's why you'll be receiving the finalized contract early next week," Harry feels incredibly awkward standing there while Dobrev is having a stressful sounding phone call. "Alright, Montgomery. We'll speak again after the contracts are signed," Dobrev says before hanging up the phone. He looks up at Harry. "Yes?" he asks, seeming impatient.

"Uh, yes, hello, Sir. I'm Harry Styles, your new assistant," Harry approaches Dobrev's desk with his hand out to shake his hand.

"Ah, yes, Just in time," Dobrev smiles, standing up and firmly shaking Harry's hand. "I have a list of things that I need you to complete by the end of the day. The first one is a coffee run, and the coffee needs to be here within the hour. Every address you need is in this notebook, alphabetized by the client's name. Here's the notebook and the list. Go collect coffee orders from Mr. Payne over there, the secretary, to Mrs. Rhodes who's to my right. I take my coffee black."

"Yes, Sir, right away," Harry says, staring down at the list and exiting Dobrev's office to collect coffee orders. 'It's not that bad,' he thinks as he scans through today's objectives.

Coffee run

Collect signed contract from Jennings

Deliver contract to Davidson and pick up finalized contract from Davidson's partner, Edwards

Call Meyerson's assistant to schedule a meeting with Montgomery on Tuesday an 3 o'clock

Call Montgomery's assistant to schedule a meeting with Meyerson on Tuesday at 3 o'clock 

Pick up my dry cleaning 

Harry nodded to himself and quickly began rounding up coffee orders.


	11. Eleven

Louis had to be pregnant. He just had to be. He has never been so put off by the thought of food before, and he was up until 3am getting sick.

Today was the first day that the doctor said it was safe to take a pregnancy test, and of course, Louis forgot to take it this morning before work. Okay, so, maybe he didn't forget. Maybe it was more along the lines of Louis was terrified that the test would come back negative, and Louis really didn't want it to be negative. He also wouldn't mind someone to be there when he took it whether or not it turned out positive or not. Comfort is good for bad news.

"Liam!" Louis says excitedly into the speaker of his phone.

"Hey, mate. How's it going?" Liam replies, slightly more mellow.

"Do you want to do me a huge favor?" Louis asks nervously, scrunching his nose.

Liam sighs. "What have you done now, Louis?"

"Nothing bad, don't say it like that," Louis laughs. "I need you to come 'round to mine tonight."

"Sure, lad, what for?" 

"Well," Louis debates with himself on whether or not to blurt out the fact that he might be pregnant over the phone, but he got a little too nervous to say it. "I'm-I'll just tell you when you're there, alright? How's the ole job going anyways?"

"It's going alright. The interns have started to flood in again. You still looking to be set up, because their are a couple of lads I think you'd potentially be interested in."

"Thanks for the offer, Liam, but I'm not exactly in a good place in my life to start a new relationship right now," Louis laughs, imagining his future with the thing that could be growing inside him right now.

"Are you kidding me? A couple of months ago, you were begging me to set you up with someone," Liam says.

"Alright, now, I wasn't begging. I was heavily implying," Louis jokes. He hears a beep and realizes he has a call waiting on a different line.

"Whatever you say, Lou," Liam says, sarcastically.

"Yes, well, on that note, I have a call waiting. And it's coming from your office. Fancy that."

"It's probably one of the new interns calling to set up the Montgomery-Meyerson meeting. Have fun with that."

"Yeah, whatever, Liam, bye," Louis says and hangs up, immediately answering the waiting call.

"Hello, Montgomery Incorporated, how may I help you?" Louis answers in the most professional voice he can put on in that moment.

"Um, hello. I'm calling on behalf of Derrick Dobrev. He wishes to schedule a meeting between Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Meyerson for Tuesday at 3 o'clock," the person on the other line says. Because of his overwhelmingly uncomfortable voice, Louis can tell that Liam was right about it being an intern calling.

"Alright, let me check Mr. Montgomery's schedule for Tuesday," Louis says, flipping through the planner he bought specifically to put Montgomery's to-do's in. "Tuesday at 3 o'clock is actually perfect. Have you already informed Meyerson?"

"Yes, just before this," the deep voice answered.

"Alright, that's perfect, then. I'll let him know. Thank you," Louis says, jotting the meeting down in his planner.

"Thank you as well. Have a nice evening," the intern says before hanging up. Louis was pleasantly surprised with the politeness of that intern. He sincerely wishes they were all so kind.

Louis stands up and walks over to Mr. Montgomery's office, knocking politely.

"Yes, Mr. Tomlinson?" Montgomery says without looking up at Louis.

"You have a meeting with Meyerson on Tuesday at 3," Louis answers.

"Alright, thank you for letting me know. Could you tell the rest of the office that they can go home early? My daughter's ballet recital is tonight, and she wants me to help her get ready, so I need to leave quite early."

"Of course, Sir. Would you like me to send some flowers?"

Montgomery seems pleased with Louis's offer. "Actually, yes. It would save me an errand. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson."

"No problem, Mr. Montgomery," Louis says as Montgomery exits his office with his briefcase in hand. As soon as Montgomery is out of the building, Louis announces their early release and watches as everyone's faces become suddenly full of life as they pack their things for the day. Louis quickly calls Mr. Montgomery's usual florist and has them send a large bouquet of daisies to Montgomery's home.

As soon as he finishes his task, he takes off straight to the closest drug store and picked up a couple of different kinds of pregnancy tests. The cashier tells him that his aura screamed pregnancy, and that makes Louis feel very happy.

Once he arrives back at his apartment, he texts Liam that his office was sent home early today and that he could come over as soon as he gets off of work as well.

He puts the pregnancy tests somewhere he might forget about them in order to ease his stress. Out of sight, out of mind, as he says to himself. He sighs and his stomach growls with hunger, but Louis really doesn't have an appetite, so he decides to drink some water and take a nap instead.

When he wakes up, he hears his doorbell ring and discovers that he's been asleep for about 2 1/2 hours now. He suddenly becomes very nervous as he makes his way to answer the door. 

"Hey, Liam," Louis smiles a little too intensely, and Liam's eyebrows raise.

"Hey, Lou," he walks into the flat. "So, why did you want me to come over tonight?"

"Okay, so, I kind of did something a little crazy about a month ago," Louis slowly begins explaining.

"Okay?" Liam asks, urging him to continue.

"Bottom line, I need you to be here while I take a pregnancy test," Louis blurts out, nervously rubbing his hands together.

Liam's eyes widen. "You're pregnant?"

Louis shrugs. "I hope so."

"You hope so? You meant to get pregnant?"

"Well, yes, I kind of got artificially inseminated."

Liam blinks at Louis for a few seconds, not knowing what to say.

After a longer silence than Louis is comfortable with, he asks, "So will you be here while I take the test or not?"

Liam immediately nods. "Of course, mate, I was just a little caught off guard. No wonder you don't want to be set up with anyone right now."

Louis laughs. "Yeah, that would put a damper on a new relationship. 'By the way, I'm pregnant with another man's baby, and I'll never know who he is.' Imagine," Louis's sarcasm makes Liam laugh. 

"Alright, well, let's get on with it then. I want to know if I'm going to be an uncle already."

Louis laughs and quickly runs to grab the pregnancy test from his bedside table. Him and Liam meet outside of his bathroom and Liam waits while he prepares the test. When Louis opens the bathroom door, Liam sets a timer on his phone for 5 minutes.

'This is quite possibly the longest 5 minutes of my life,' Louis thinks as he paces up and down the hall. "How long has it been?" he asks, clearly on edge.

"1 more minute, mate."

"Oh my god, I'm literally going to die."

"Alright, alright, don't stress your potential child out now. Jesus."

"Liam James Payne, do I look like I need jokes right now?" Louis asks sarcastically, feeling his nerves getting worse every second.

"Kind of." Liam shrugs, causing Louis to glare at him. 

Just then the nerve-wracking beep of Liam's phone sounds and the blood rushes out of Louis's face. 

"Oh my god," Louis mumbles to himself. He slowly makes his way to the bathroom but once he arrives in the doorway, his fear gets in his way. "I can't look. I absolutely can't look."

"Do you want me to look?" Liam asks, sincerely worried for his friend's momentary sanity. Louis nods. Liam walks into the bathroom and picks the pregnancy test up by the handle, studying the screen for a moment in complete shock.

"Liam, what does it say? You're going to make me vomit."

A huge smile spreads across Liam's face. "You're pregnant."


	12. Twelve

It's the next Tuesday at 2:47, and Harry is supposed to be walking into Mr. Dobrev's office in exactly 3 minutes to help him prepare for the meeting between Meyerson and Montgomery at 3. Or rather, he was supposed to be there 2 minutes ago, because "on time is late, and early is on time" as Liam put it on Harry's first day. 

Harry's whole day has just been kind of off, to say the least. He arrived to the office on time, which means Mr. Dobrev was annoyed that Harry was late, he messed up 3 different people's coffee orders, and he forgot to write down the name of someone who wanted to schedule a meeting between them and Dobrev, and he's just not having a great day today.

It's not really Harry's fault that he's late at the moment, to be fair. Mr. Dobrev had him pick up his dry cleaning and take it back to his flat, but the dry cleaners couldn't find the suit he was supposed to pick up for about 30 minutes, but Harry knows that that is no excuse for being "late" when it comes to Derrick Dobrev.

"You're late," Dobrev scolds without looking up from the notes for the meeting on his desk when Harry walks in.

"Yes, sir. I apologize, it won't happen again," Harry replies, kind of fearing for his entire future.

"You better make sure of that, boy," Dobrev says, sending Harry a stern glare.

"Of course, sir," Harry says, not knowing what else to say.

"Good. Now brief me on what's happening in the meeting at 3."

"Meyerson and Montgomery are coming in to discuss and sign a contract that smooths out all of the details between their upcoming merger. Meyerson is worried that Montgomery is trying to completely take over both companies, while Montgomery is worried that he'll be late picking his daughter up from school, so he needs the meeting to be finished by 3:30," Harry explains in one breath.

Dobrev nods. "We can make that happen. Good job, kid. You'll be monitoring the meeting so that there is a witness to make sure none of us do anything potentially illegal and also to take notes. Meyerson and Montgomery will also have their assistants with them."

"Thank you, sir," Harry says, letting out a breath.

"Did you bring the bagels?" Dobrev asks. Harry nods and motions to the giant box of bagels in his hand, wondering why Dobrev even had to ask. "Good. Let's head to the meeting room, then. Wouldn't want to be late, now would we?" Harry nods and follows Dobrev out of his office before glancing at the time on his phone. 

2:54. Harry rolls his eyes at this man's incessant need to be early to everything. They arrive in the meeting room, and Harry immediately presents the bagels and various toppings on a platter and sits in the seat to the right of Dobrev.

"Here's Meyerson," Dobrev says to Harry when he sees the him and his assistant approaching through the windows of the meeting room. He stands up, and Harry follows his lead. "Meyerson! Nice to see you again," Dobrev greets, shaking Meyerson's and his assistant's hand.

"Dobrev, nice to see you. This is my assistant, Mary, she'll be joining us today," Meyerson says with quite a fake smile if Harry might say.

"This is Harry," Dobrev introduces, and Harry leans over the table to shake both of their hands.

"Nice to meet you," he says to them both.

Just then, a very pleasant looking man walks in alone, and Harry can only assume that this is Montgomery.

"Montgomery!" Dobrev greets, similarly to how he greeted Meyerson. "This is Mary and Harry, and you obviously know Meyerson."

"Of course. It's nice to meet you two." He shakes their hands."My assistant will be up in a moment. I accidentally forgot my brief case in the car," he laughs. 

"Yeah, that sounds like you, Montgomery," Meyerson chuckles and sits down across from Dobrev's seat.

"There he is now," Montgomery says, motioning to a smaller man who is facing away from the meeting room and seems to be greeting Liam. They seem to say bye, and when the man turns around, Harry has to keep his jaw from dropping noticeably.

It's the boy he met at that 24 hour sushi place like a month ago.

'What was his name?' Harry thinks to himself. 'Larry? Lewis? Leroy?'

"Everyone, this is Louis," Montgomery introduces.

'That's the one,' Harry thinks, remembering following Louis out of the restaurant only to be rejected. 'How awkward.'

Louis immediately makes eye contact with Harry and his eyes widen. Louis then tears his blue eyes away from Harry's green, and shakes everyone's hands, making his way to Harry's. Harry notes that although Louis's hands are much smaller than his own, he has quite the firm handshake.

Harry can't seem to take his eyes off of Louis for the majority of the meeting. It's not like Harry is really needed here. He takes notes when something important is said, but he mostly just studies Louis. Harry really appreciates Louis in a tie. Louis returns his glances every now and then with a smirk, which makes Harry tingle quite heavily inside.

They watch as Meyerson and Montgomery make their final signatures on the large contract and stand up and shake hands, signaling the end of the meeting.

"It was nice doing business with you," Meyerson says.

"And you as well," Montgomery replies, returning Meyerson's smile. Montgomery's at least seemed real, though.

As it is now 3:30, it is officially the end of Harry's workday. He says goodbye to his boss and his boss's clients. They all exit the room, leaving only the assistants behind.

Harry glances over at Louis one last time before deciding to clean up the bagels and toppings before he leaves for the day.

"It was nice to meet you two," Mary says, waving her goodbyes and walking out.

Harry throws the used napkins in the trash can and begins wiping the crumbs up, when he notices that Louis is still in the room.

"Would you, uh," Louis pauses and lets out an awkward cough. "Would you like some help cleaning up?" 

"If you want to, I won't say 'no,'" Harry laughs, throwing the crumbs in the trash. Louis's ass looks exceptionally nice in the trousers he's wearing.

Louis sends Harry a small smile and begins to pack up the extra bagels back into the box. "We met about a month ago at that sushi restaurant, didn't we?" he asks without attempting to make eye contact.

"We did," Harry smiles. "I was hoping we'd run into each other again. I just expected it to be on the street or in a club somewhere, and not," Harry pauses and chuckles. "Well, not in a business meeting."

Harry notices Louis's cheeks grow slightly pinker as he continues to avoid Harry's eyes. "Yes, well, I don't really do much clubbing these days." Louis finally meets Harry's eyes and Harry's the one to turn pink this time. He's just so pretty, Harry doesn't really know what to do with himself.

"So that means, when I ask you on a date, I should ask you out to dinner and not to a bar?" Harry shows off his dimples with a cheeky grin as Louis laughs nervously, his face becoming redder by the second.

"I don't think that's the best idea," Louis replies with an awkward smile.

"Why not?" Harry tilts his head slightly to the side as he closes the bagel box and walks out of the room. He hears Louis begin to follow behind him as he heads to the staff lounge to leave the extra bagels there for tomorrow morning.

"Well, I just," Louis begins nervously. "You see," he sighs.

"How about this," Harry starts, noticing that Louis seems uncomfortable with sharing whatever it is that makes him hesitant about going on a date with him. "I'll take you out to dinner tonight around 8, and if you don't like me, you don't have to ever speak to me again. But, if you do like me, you tell me why you don't want to go out with me and we'll figure that out together," Harry says, feeling proud of himself.

He can tell that Louis still feels hesitant, but Louis finally smiles and sighs in defeat. "Fine, Harry. You can take me out tonight," he gives in, making Harry smile. "But if I don't like you, I'm leaving you there."

"Of course," Harry smiles. "I'll meet you at Chez Francois at 8, then."

"Ooh, fancy choice," Louis laughs.

"I've got to make you fall in love with me somehow," Harry jokes.

"Alright, Harold, calm down now," Louis swats Harry's arm lightly.

"Let me walk you to whatever form of transportation you're using to get home," Harry offers as they get onto the elevator.

"I'm walking," Louis says.

"Me too," Harry replies. "We'll just walk together until we part ways, then."

"Fine," Louis smiles.

"Fine," Harry chuckles.


	13. Thirteen

Louis acted exceptionally calm while Harry was asking him out, but he is exactly the opposite. Or at least he thinks he acted calm. At the moment, he's trying his hardest to put together an outfit that is fancy restaurant material, but he can't seem to find one he's happy with.

Eventually, he decides on his grey speckled sweater with his favorite black skinny jeans and some nice-ish black suede shoes.

"Good enough," he mumbles as he looks at himself in his full length mirror. He lifts up his sweater and smiles at him tummy, gently placing his hand the the middle of his stomach near his rib cage. He can't believe his future son or daughter is growing in his tummy, and he's never been more excited.

He also can't believe that he agreed to going on this date, because he just knows that it's going to end in one of two ways: Louis won't like Harry as much as he thinks he might, and he'll leave the date with no plans to ever see him again, which would be the easier option for himself, or he'll be completely infatuated with him, but then Louis will be the one who's ghosted when Harry finds out that he's pregnant.

He shrugs to himself and puts his sweater back down, tapping his belly and quickly making his hair look presentable enough to impress Harry, even though he's 100% confident that tonight is going to end in disaster. It's 7:30 already, so he shrugs his nerves away, grabs his coat, and starts walking towards Chez Francois. It's only about a 15 minute walk from his flat, so he'll get there slightly early.

The entire walk there, all Louis can think about is how much he hopes he doesn't like Harry. Which is strange for a first date, but here he is, hoping for the worst. 

He arrives at the restaurant at 7:47, expecting to be the first of the two there, but just as he's about to ask for a table for two, he sees Harry stand up and wave at him from about 20 feet away. And Louis thought he was early. 

His jaw almost drops at the sight of Harry. He's wearing an almost see through white button up with the top 3 buttons undone to show his toned chest and a multitude of tattoos that have Louis halfway hard already. Harry's sleeves are rolled up to just below his elbows to reveal even more tattoos, and Louis didn't realize how horny tattoos make him feel. He's got quite a few himself, but Harry's are just, wow. He's never seen him when his chest and forearms are exposed, and, to be honest, all he can think about is how many other tattoos Harry might have that are hidden from Louis right now. Harry's shirt is partially tucked in to a pair of black skinny jeans with cut outs where his knees are and a pair of worn brown boots are protecting his feet. 

This 'maybe I won't like him' plan is already not working out in Louis's favor.

"Hey, Louis," Harry smiles, greeting Louis with a warm hug. It's then that Louis realizes just how much bigger Harry is than him. 

'Holy shit, he smells good,' Louis thinks to himself. "Hey, Harry," he greets as Harry releases him from the hug. Louis could have gone for a longer one if he's honest.

"You doing alright?" Harry asks as they sit down across from each other at their table.

"Yeah, I'm doing pretty well, how about you?" Louis replies, lying through his teeth. He is full of nerves at the moment.

"Honestly, I'm pretty nervous," Harry laughs.

'Thank god it's not just me,' Louis thinks. "Me too," he confesses, breathing out a laugh. The evening goes on without a hitch, and Louis is cursing himself with how infatuated he is with Harry. He's never gone on a date and been horny the second he lays eyes on the guy. Harry's also probably the nicest man he's ever met, and he wishes he would have met him a couple of years ago, so that he wouldn't be scared away when Louis tells him that he's pregnant later tonight. Part of him wishes that he has said no, and the other part is so glad he said yes. Louis really doesn't know what he's going to do.

"The food is really great," Louis says, praising every god that anyone's ever believed in that his morning sickness isn't acting up today.

Harry nods. "The chef's absolutely amazing. Have you ever been here before?" he asks.

Louis shakes his head. "Never. My mum always talked about wanting to go, but I never got the chance to take her."

"Why not?" Harry asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

"She actually, um, passed away in December," Louis replies awkwardly. "Leukemia."

Harry's eyes become sad and regretful for asking. "I'm so sorry, Louis," he says, reaching across the table and taking Louis's hand in his. 

Louis immediately gets butterflies in his stomach when Harry touches his hand. "Let's not talk about that right now, yeah? Dessert?" Louis asks, changing the subject.

Harry smiles. "Get whatever you want. Although, I must say, the raspberry cheesecake is absolutely amazing."

"Perfect," Louis grins. 'I am completely fucked.'

They finish their dessert about 15 minutes after it arrives at their table and Harry somehow makes Louis laugh more than he's laughed in one sitting in awhile. He doesn't even know why he finds Harry so funny. All he's done is make puns and tell him knock-knock jokes, but Louis can't seem to get enough of it. 

"Can we have the check, please?" Harry asks their waiter between laughs. The waiter nods and Harry thanks him.

When the check comes, Louis automatically reaches for it.

"No, no, no, I'm paying," Harry says, removing the check from Louis's grasp.

"Harry, you're an unpaid intern and a student," Louis reasons. "I can get it."

"I asked you out, therefore it's my treat," Harry smiles, inserting his card into the slot and handing it back to the waiter.

"You're impossible," Louis laughs.

"You like it."

Louis shrugs. "Maybe."

By the time they're done with dinner, it's almost 10.

"Did you walk here?" Harry asks as they exit the restaurant.

Louis nods. "Yeah."

"Can I take you home?" Harry asks. "I won't stay if you don't want me to, but I don't want you to walk home all alone in the dark."

"Sure, Harry," Louis smiles, trusting Harry more than he probably should for someone he's known for a total of probably, like, 3 1/2 hours. 

Harry grins and opens up his passenger seat door, waving his arm to signal Louis to get into his car . He closes the door once Louis is in and skips over to the driver's side with a huge smile on his face.

"Will you direct me?" Harry asks, putting his car into drive.

Louis nods. "Turn left at the end of the street."

It only takes about 5 or so minutes to get to Louis's flat. "Y'know, I only live like 2 or 3 blocks away."

"Really?" Louis asks, surprised.

Harry nods, taking his seat belt off. "Small world," he smiles. He hops out of his car and runs over to Louis's side, opening the door for him once again.

"What a gentleman," Louis jokes.

"I try," he shrugs.

Harry walks Louis to his front door, 'accidentally' brushing their hands together on their way up the stairs, making Louis blush.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Harry says as they stop at Louis's door.

"So did I," Louis says, chuckling slightly and unlocking his door.

Harry's eyes flicker from Louis's eyes to his lips, and Louis's breath catches in his throat.

He can't believe someone like Harry might actually be about to kiss him right now.

"Can I kiss you?" Harry asks meekly, and Louis could die happy right now.

Louis nods, and Harry begins to slowly move in closer and Louis swears he can't breathe right now. Before he knows it, Harry's lips are pressing against his, and oh my god, they're soft. Harry pulls away faster than Louis likes, and he can't help but connect his lips to Harry's once more. Harry gasps, taken aback by Louis's sudden forwardness and rests his hands on Louis's hips, grabbing slightly. He moves his lips in sync with Louis's and raises one of his hands to Louis's face, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.

Louis accidentally moans quietly into the kiss, causing Harry to freeze for a second. Just as Louis begins to think he's really blown it and gone and freaked him out, Harry backs Louis into his front door and kisses him harder. Louis moans again, this time embracing it and reaching behind him to open his door. They stumble inside, swinging the door shut behind them. Harry pushes Louis against the wall and bends down slightly without breaking their kiss to pick him up by the back of his thighs. He carries Louis over to his living area and lays him down on his couch, climbing on top of him and bringing their lips back together.

Louis thinks this is quite possibly the best time he's ever had making out with someone, and he wants with all of his heart and soul for this to go further.

Louis brings his hands in between the pair and begins unbuttoning the few done-up buttons on Harry's shirt, sliding the white fabric down his arms and throwing it onto the ground. He looks at Harry's chest and let's out another moan when he sees the butterfly on the front of Harry's rib cage. Harry chuckles at this. He lifts his head so that Harry will continue kissing him as he undoes his belt and throws it next to his shirt, as he unbuttons his pants and begins to push them over Harry's not-surprisingly firm ass. Harry kicks them off when they get to his knees, so that he's left in only his black boxers.

Harry lifts Louis's sweater up and over his head, immediately attaching his lips to Louis's jaw and then his neck and his collarbone and his chest.

Louis is in absolute heaven.

He only remembers the reason he was hesitant to go out with Harry in the first place when Harry's mouth makes its way to Louis's stomach. Louis immediately gasps and grabs Harry's hands which are currently trying to undo Louis's jeans. "Harry, I'm pregnant," Louis blurts out, causing Harry's gaze to shoot directly up to Louis's face.

"Louis, we haven't even had sex yet," Harry says, partly joking.

"No," Louis sighs, sitting up and moving his bottom half out from under Harry. "That's why I almost didn't go out with you in the first place."

"Wait, so," Harry momentarily closes his eyes to try to grasp what Louis is telling him. "You're already in a relationship with someone?" he asks, confused.

"No," Louis answers quickly. "It's kind of complicated."

"I'd be happy to try and understand so I don't feel like I've been completely used," he laughs dryly.

"Well, okay," Louis suddenly becomes aware that Harry is still almost naked, and he can see the imprint of Harry's dick underneath his boxers, and it's not helping him focus on the topic at hand. "Um, do you maybe want to put some clothes on? Especially since you're probably just going to leave after I tell you anyways."

"I'll put clothes on, but let me just hear what the hell is going on before I decide to leave or not," he replies, standing up and picking his jeans off of the floor, sliding them over his toned legs. Louis realizes he's basically drooling and quickly diverts his eyes away.

"Basically, I really want a kid, and I'm getting old, and I didn't think anyone was going to show up and decide to date me anytime soon, so I went to a sperm bank and got inseminated," Louis says in one breath, nervously awaiting Harry's reply.

Harry's eyes are wide as he finishes buttoning his pants, and he nods his head to let Louis know that he understands. "Alright then," he laughs. "So I guess that means we have, what? 8 months now to figure out if we'll work for any long period of time?"

Louis stares at Harry in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"Look, Louis," Harry starts, sitting back down next to Louis, both of them still shirtless. "This is only our first date, but I really like you, and I would like to see where this can go."

"Are you kidding me?" Louis stares up at Harry with wide eyes.

"It takes a long time for a baby to actually be born, right? Basically 10 months if they make it to 40 weeks. That's almost a year. By the time the baby is here, we'll have a fairly good idea of where this relationship can go. And who knows?" He throws his arms out to the side. "We might break up next month, but I feel a real potential here, and I want to try to make it work, baby and all," Harry laughs.

"Really?" Louis asks, not believing what's happening in front of him.

"Yeah, why not?" he shrugs. "Also, you're not old, by the way, you're 25. That's only 2 years older than I am."

"Old enough," Louis quips.

"How about we just take this a little slower than it was going about 10 minutes ago, alright?" Harry asks. 

Louis sighs. He was really looking forward to the events of 10 minutes ago. "I guess," he shrugs, still in disbelief that Harry is okay with him being pregnant with someone else's baby. Especially since Louis doesn't even really know who the father is, nor will he ever.

"Let's watch a movie, yeah? Where do you keep them?"

"Second drawer on the left of the TV stand," Louis replies.

Harry looks through Louis's movie collection. "These are awful," he laughs. "Do you have any rom-coms?"

Louis smiles sheepishly. "First drawer on the right."


	14. Fourteen

It's only been a few days since Harry and Louis's date, but the pair cannot stop texting each other.

Right now, though, Harry really should put down his phone for a moment, because Niall and Naila desperately need his help studying for one of their finals that's coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Niall, Naila, and Harry met each other in their first English class of their university lives. Harry and Naila immediately clicked, and Naila and Niall become friends quite easily after bonding over how similar their names are. They're both a semester behind Harry and completely stressed out at the moment, while Harry's floating on air. They've been studying for about an hour, and neither of them really seem to know much about anatomy.

"So, what's a genetic disease of progressive muscle weakening and degeneration due to the lack of a protein?" Harry asks, reading one of the sample questions from a random anatomy test he found on google.

"Honestly, I have no fucking idea what you're talking about, Harry," Naila answers monotonously. 

"Muscular dystrophy," Harry rolls his eyes with a chuckle.

"I got the next one," Niall says as he leans forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands folded together.

"Alright," Harry says, reading the next question over before repeating it. "Niall, two discrete types of muscle fibers are identified on the basis of their fuel supply, oxygen supply, and tension. Which of the following athletic endeavors best represents the use of slow-twitch fibers? A: a sprint by an Olympic runner, B: swinging a baseball bat, C: lifting weights, or D: mountain climbing?"

Niall stares at Harry blankly for a minute before throwing his hands up the the air, standing up, and walking out of the room, yelling, "Forget it! I'm just going to fail."

"It was 'A,' if you were wondering!" Harry shouts to Niall as he exits the room. "You know you two have almost a month until this test, right?" Harry giggles to Naila.

"A month much needed, obviously," she rolls her eyes. "We're both going to fail, Harry, and you'll be forced to care for us for the rest of our lives," Naila jokes, dramatically.

"Right," Harry says, sarcasm oozing from his lips.

Naila laughs and adjusts her position on the floor so that she's sitting with her legs crossed in front of her. "So, you never told me about your date," she says, batting her eyelashes.

"I thought we were studying," Harry says, trying to change the subject.

"We were, but now we're talking about your date," she urges.

"You went on a date?" Niall asks, reentering the living room. "How come you didn't tell me?"

Harry scoffs. "I did tell you."

"When?" Niall furrows his eyebrows.

"Niall, you literally helped me pick out my outfit."

"Oh, that's what that was for?" he asks and Harry rolls his eyes.

"Yes, you fucking genius."

"Okay, children, that's enough dialogue. Will you please tell us about your date, then?" Naila interrupts, laughing.

"Isn't that dialogue, though?" Harry says sarcastically.

"Do you want me to hit you?" she asks.

"Not particularly, no," Harry chuckles, and Naila sends him a glare. "Alright, Alright," he gives in. "Okay, so basically, we were supposed to meet for dinner at 8, but I ended up getting there at, like, 7:30, because I was so paranoid that I was going to be late, even though the restaurant is only about 10 minutes from here," Harry begins explaining.

He goes through the highlights of the date, like the way Harry's heart was caught in his throat when he first saw Louis in a sweater that was way too big for him. How Louis ended up letting Harry drive him home and their first kiss that made Harry feel like he was flying. The shock of seeing the multitude of tattoos on Louis's chest and arms after seeing him walk around with sweater paws for the whole time they were together prior to that interaction.

"Wait, you guys already fucked?" Naila gasps with a smile. 

"Okay, so that's where the story gets kind of complicated," Harry says, his voice raising slightly at the end.

"What do you mean?" Niall asks.

"Well," Harry starts in a high pitched voice, avoiding eye contact and squinting his eyes slightly. 

"What, is he, like, married or something?" Naila jokes.

"No," Harry says confidently. "But he is pregnant." Harry gives his two best friends a 'please don't hurt me' smile. 

He notes that his smile is received but not reciprocated, as they both stare at him with shocked expressions.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Harry says, trying to ease their worries.

"Not as bad as it sounds? Harry, the man is pregnant with someone else's baby, and then didn't tell you until you were naked," Naila scolds.

"I had my pants on still. And he doesn't even really know who the father is, so it's not like he'll be an issue in this."

"How the fuck is that any better?" Niall asks, terribly confused.

"No, what I meant is, he meant to get pregnant. He got inseminated. At a sperm bank like a month or so ago," Harry explains quickly in small fragments.

"Didn't you give to a sperm bank about a month ago?" Niall raises his eyebrows.

"Okay, Niall, I know what you're thinking, and he did not use my sperm to make a baby, alright? There are thousands of samples, and he probably did it before I even donated anything, so it's whatever," Harry rolls his eyes. As if Louis would choose Harry's sample out of the thousands and thousands of options he was provided with. 

"It's possible," Niall mumbles.

"I really like him, alright, guys?" Harry sighs, ignoring Niall's comment. "And he's coming 'round tomorrow to have a movie night, so you two better either not be here or be on your best behavior."

"Fine," Naila rolls her eyes, laughing slightly and shaking her head.

"At least we know that you can't get him pregnant if you two decide not to use protection," Niall laughs, causing Harry to shoot him a glare. "I'm just joking, mate."

"It's not funny, I really like him," Harry pouts.

"Alright, me and Naila will go out tomorrow night, how about that?" Niall says, adhering to Harry's wishes.

"Thank you," Harry sighs in relief.

"Right, well, on that note, I've got to get back to my flat now, so I'll see you tomorrow at some point," Naila says, gathering her things and waving the pair goodbye. 

"I think I'm going to head to bed," Harry says, looking at the time on his phone and standing up.

"Night, mate," Niall replies, taking Harry's place on the couch.

On his way down the hall, Harry receives a text from Louis, and he was definitely not expecting what he opened.

Louis may or may not have sent him something that gave Harry a raging hard on that he was forced to deal with before his nightly slumber.

He'll get him back for that later.


	15. Fifteen

"Hey, Lou," Harry greets as he opens his door.

"Hey, Harry," Louis responds with a smile. "I brought The Notebook," he laughs, taking the movie out of his bag.

"And I supplied the popcorn," Harry laughs, motioning to the giant bowl of still-warm popcorn on his living room table. 

Louis is once again awestruck by his date's beauty. This time, however, he's wearing a loose, thin white tank top and some grey joggers that make Louis want to die. Harry also has a navy blue beanie covering his small brown waves, and Louis seems to be slightly overdressed. By 'overdressed,' he means that he's wearing actual jeans, which he now deeply regrets.

They pop the movie into Harry's bluray player and sit down next to each other, beginning to snack on the buttery treat that Harry prepared for them.

"Honestly, who owns CD players anymore?" Louis teases. "You can find everything online for free."

Harry scoffs. "Excuse me, sir, I actually enjoy the pleasantry of waiting through commercials and getting to know my dates."

"Well, sir," Louis retorts. "It's not like we're talking all that much. More like shoving popcorn in our faces."

"We're talking now," Harry replies.

"Yes, thanks to me," Louis laughs, throwing a piece of popcorn into the air and catching it in his mouth.

"Thanks to you and my CD player, you mean," Harry corrects. "Catching popcorn in your mouth is only impressive when someone else throws it."

"Well, then, are you ready to be impressed, Harry?" Louis challenges.

"I've never been more ready," Harry says, trying to stay serious and failing as he chuckles.

"You get on that side of the couch and I'll stay over here," Louis says motioning to either side of Harry's couch.

Harry does as he says and gets the bowl of popcorn ready in front of him.

"C'mon now, don't be shy," Louis jokes before opening his mouth to tell Harry to throw a piece of popcorn at him.

Harry throws a piece with perfect form, and it lands perfectly into Louis's mouth.

"Don't mock me, Harold. Make me work for it," Louis laughs.

Harry does as Louis says and throws another piece with a slight curve. Louis immediately curves to his left and catches the popcorn, but loses his balance in the process, almost falling off of the couch to his death.

Harry instinctively reacts, almost jumping from his spot on the couch to try and keep Louis from falling. Of course, Louis didn't really need to be saved, as he didn't actually fall, therefore Harry just spilled the popcorn for nothing.

"Harry, you wanker," Louis laughs. "You've spilled all the bloody popcorn."

"It's not my fault you're clumsy," Harry jokes.

"Me?" Louis yelps. "You're the one who spilled the popcorn."

"Damn it, you're right," Harry concedes. "Guess we'll both just have to sit on that side of the couch," Harry shrugs, sitting down closer to Louis than he probably needs to.

Louis would usually make some sort of snippy comment at this point, but Harry just smells so damn good. Is that weird? And, honestly, Louis has never been more attracted to a bicep in his life, so he'll take all the contact he can get.

At this point, the movie's started, but now all Louis can think about are Harry's arms pinning him down, and oh my god, he's hard. 

Apparently Harry notices or is thinking similarly, or both, or something, because the next thing Louis knows, Harry's hand is on his knee and is slowly moving its way up his thigh every few moments. Louis 'casually' spreads his thighs apart ever so slightly, giving Harry permission to do literally whatever the fuck he wants to him at this point, because it's been awhile, alright? 

He sees Harry smirk from the corner of his eye, but they both continue to stare at the television, pretending to pay attention to Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling pretending to love each other.

Harry's pinky finger makes contact with the base of the zipper on Louis's jeans, and Louis imagines the cold metal of Harry's rings touching his warm skin as he takes in a sharp intake of breath.

Harry moves his hand to palm Louis's erection, causing Louis to pause for a deep breath due to his own excitement.

Harry slowly undoes the zipper on Louis's jeans along with the button, filling Louis with anticipation. Harry glances over at Louis to see him momentarily looking down at Harry's hand and biting his lip. He slowly inches his hand inside of Louis's jeans, teasing Louis by lightly grazing his fingers over the tip of his penis and down to his balls, squeezing lightly. Louis's breath hitches, and Harry smirks again. Before Louis knows what's happening, Harry is on his knees in front of him, and he's pulling his jeans down and off of his legs and throwing them to the other side of his living room.

"Jesus," Louis whispers to himself, harder than fucking ever.

Harry then pulls Louis's boxers down like he did with his jeans and take ahold of Louis's cock, slowly moving his large hand up and down. Louis moans quietly, pushing his hips up, signaling that he wants more. Harry takes the hint and moves his mouth to Louis's cock, beginning to swirl his tongue around the tip, easily making Louis moan. He slowly begins to take Louis further, his head bobbing as he does so, speed picking up as they both become more worked up. At one point, Harry looks up at Louis in such a way that almost has Louis orgasming then and there.

"Harry," Louis groans between breaths, gripping onto the hair on the nape of Harry's neck. "Want you."

Harry immediately reaches behind him into the drawer of his living room table and pulls out a small bottle of lube and a condom. He stands up, taking Louis's shirt off in the process before removing his own and pulling off his joggers to reveal his large cock. Louis can't bare how attractive the man who's about to fuck him is, and he has so idea how he got this lucky.

Harry is oddly enough thinking the exact same thing.

Harry pushes Louis so that he's lying down on the couch, and he climbs in between his legs, licking up and down Louis's cock again, this time with a finger covered in lube slowly making its way around the rim of Louis's ass. Louis's breathing becomes deeper and more erratic as Harry continues his work. He slowly edges his finger into Louis's ass, going deeper every time he hears Louis moan.

"Oh my god-fuck's sake," Louis groans, arching his back as Harry adds another finger.

"How does that feel?" Harry asks, voice deeper than usual as he slowly moves his fingers in and out of Louis. 

"Fucking fantastic," Louis breathes out as Harry curves his fingers upwards to hit the bundle of nerves. "Fuck," he moans.

"Do you want me to fuck you?" Harry says, fingering Louis slightly faster.

"Oh-fuck, yes," he whines, lifting his hips in pleasure. 

"How badly?" Louis can hear the smirk in Harry's voice.

"Harold, if your cock isn't in me in the next 30 seconds, I'm leaving," Louis says, the empty threat evident.

Empty as it was, Harry removes his fingers and sits up, rolling the condom onto his cock and quickly lubing himself up, letting out a quiet moan as he stares down at Louis's waiting body.

He positions himself back over Louis's body, bringing their lips together in a messy kiss for the first time since Louis got here. He lines himself up with Louis's ass and slowly starts to push himself in, breathing heavily and letting a slight moan slip because of the pleasure he feels. Slowly isn't good enough for Louis right now, though, because, god damn it, is he horny. 

He squeezes his knees together, causing Harry's to bottom out much faster. They both let out a moan.

"Jesus fuck," Harry groans, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut at the sensation.

"Oh, oh my god," Louis arches his back. "Fuck, Harry, move."

Harry moans, latching his mouth onto Louis's neck and rocking his hips forward. 

Louis reaches up to grab onto Harry's back as his movement's become faster and faster. "Oh, my god, right there," Louis breathes, squeezing his eyes shut and dragging his nails down Harry's back. "Shit," he drags out.

Harry can't help but nip and suck on Louis's collarbone while he fucks him, and he swears he's already left 3 hickeys from behind his ear to his chest, and he's not stopping yet.

"You feel so fucking good, Lou," Harry breathes. Hearing Harry speak to him like that has Louis already close to the edge. "Fuck," Harry moans, stopping briefly to sit up and pull Louis onto his lap. "Ride me," Harry urges, gripping tightly onto Louis's hips. 

Louis nods, connecting their lips again in a sloppy kiss and slowly easing himself onto him. Harry lets out a throaty moan into Louis's mouth as he begins to bounce up and down on his cock. He can't help but grip Louis's hips tighter and push Louis onto his cock harder every time their hips meet.

Harry's eyes close in ecstacy with his mouth slightly ajar as his head falls onto the back of his couch. Louis immediately attaches his lips to Harry's exposed neck, sucking and nibbling a hickey into place.

"Fuck, Louis," Harry moans, his nails digging into the skin of Louis's thighs.

"You gonna cum for me, Harold?" Louis growls into his ear, nipping his earlobe.

Harry's eyes roll into the back of his head at Louis's sudden assertiveness as he climaxes inside of Louis. He takes the condom off and drops it on the floor before flipping Louis back onto his back and finishing him off with his mouth and fingers. Harry swallows every last drop of Louis's cum, and Louis makes a mental note that Harry is 100% a cumslut.

Harry plops himself down next to Louis on the couch and wraps his arms around him. 

"I'm not even going to lie, that was probably the best sex I've ever had," Harry laughs, kissing Louis on the forehead.

"Ditto," Louis agrees.

Harry grins and raises his hand for a high five, earning a jokingly judgmental gaze from Louis before he slaps their hands together.

"There is popcorn everywhere," Louis laughs as he pulls a kernel from his hair.

"Oh, yeah," Harry chuckles. "We should probably clean up and put clothes on before Niall gets home."

"Or we could clean up, go to your room, and stay naked," Louis suggests.

"I knew there was a reason I wanted to date you," Harry jokes.

"Oi!" Louis laughs, swatting Harry across the chest. "Also because I have a great ass."

"An amazing ass," Harry corrects, reaching over to pinch it, earning a squeal from Louis.

They do as they said they would and vacuum up the popcorn, or at least as much as they can find, and gather their clothes, heading into Harry's room before Niall gets home.

"So much for taking things slow, huh?" Louis giggles as they lie under the comforter in Harry's bed.

"Slow enough," Harry says, waving his hand in the air before wrapping it back around Louis.

Louis chuckles and pecks Harry on the lips.

"Is it to soon to ask you to be my boyfriend?" Harry asks with that crooked smile of his.

Louis shrugs sarcastically. "Maybe a little."

Harry nods and stays silent for about 10 seconds. "How about now?"

"Perfect timing," Louis grins.

"Would you want to be my boyfriend?" Harry smiles.

"Absolutely."


	16. Sixteen

The days leading up to his 8 week check up with his OB, Louis's morning sickness has only gotten worse and worse. So bad, he's barely been able to eat anything for almost a week, much less keep it down. Even water is proving to be difficult for him to ingest. Because of this, Louis is overwhelmingly worried about the possibility that he might miscarry his baby. If Louis can't stop throwing up, how does his baby receive any nutrients? His anxiety about the situation is honestly just making him more nauseous, but he really cannot help it. If somehow, god forbid, he does miscarry, he won't even be able to use the same donor to try again, because he used the only sample they had from him, and Louis really likes the donor he chose. Plus, he'd just be heartbroken, because he's already deeply in love with his baby.

They call Louis's name to follow the nurse into the back, and he takes a deep breath before standing. 

"I'll just need to get your weight, if that's alright," the nurse smiles, motioning to the scale.

Louis nods and steps onto the scale, staring at the numbers going up on the screen in front of him. He breathes in a small gasp when the numbers stop. "I've lost 7 pounds," he says with wide eyes, turning to the nurse. "That's not supposed to happen."

"Have you been experiencing any morning sickness?" she asks. 

He nods. "I haven't been not nauseous for 2 weeks."

"Then weight loss is completely normal in the first trimester. If you're still losing weight after week 14, you'll need to worry, but right now, everything is fine," she smiles.

"Alright, thank you," he says, still quite nervous. She takes his blood pressure and listens to his heart rate, both of which are slightly too high because of his nerves, before taking him to a room where he sits on a very uncomfortable bed. 

Louis gets quite bored waiting for the doctor to knock on the door, so he pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens the pregnancy app he had downloaded the night before.

According to the app, his baby's hands and feet are developing webbed fingers and toes, its eyelids almost cover its eyes, breathing tubes extend from its throat to the branches of its developing lungs, and its "tail" is just about gone. In its brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with each another, forming primitive neural pathways. The external genitals haven't developed enough to reveal his baby's sex. Either way, his baby, which is about the size of a kidney bean, whatever that is, is apparently constantly moving and shifting, though he still can't feel it.

The app talks about symptoms that Louis might be experiencing as well. More frequent urination, fatigue, and sore breasts are the main one's Louis finds himself experiencing. Harry definitely enjoys when Louis's nipples are tender, much to the pleasure and displeasure of Louis, depending on the day. 

The doctor comes in after about 20 minutes of waiting, apologizing for taking so long. She asks him how's he's feeling and if he's experiencing any symptoms. He asks her about the weight loss again, just to be sure, and she tells him that she really needs the paperwork on his donor soon. He nods, making a mental note that'll most likely just get pushed to the back of his head.

"Would you like to hear the heartbeat?" the doctor asks, turning the ultrasound machine on. 

Louis's eyebrows raise. "You can hear it already?" He lies down and lifts up his shirt, putting his hands behind his head to prepare to see his baby.

She nods. "Yes, the heart starts beating at around 6 weeks, but sometimes it's quite hard to hear, because the fetus is so tiny at that point."

"Wow," is all Louis says.

She puts a very cold gel on Louis's tummy and spreads it around with the wand before she presses it down slightly to get a better view of his baby. "Sometimes it takes a minute to find the heartbeat," she says quietly to Louis as she tries to concentrate. 

Louis chews on his bottom lip and he can feel his heart start to palpitate as everything that could go wrong with his baby flies through his mind. 'What of there isn't a heartbeat?' is at the forefront of his brain.

It's about 2 painstaking minutes before Louis hears a soft, but quick little 'thu-thump' come from the machine. His hand flies to his mouth as tears fill his eyes, both from joy and relief. "Wow," he says again, in awe. "Can you point to where it is?" Louis asks quietly. "I can't tell where it is."

"We're at a strange angle right now, let me move it really quickly," she says, taking the wand away from the sound of the heartbeat, making Louis frown a bit. The frown quickly turns into a smile when he sees the whole of his baby start to form. "That's the fetus's head, and there is its tail. That is its right foot and its right arm," she moves the wand to the other side of his belly. "left arm and left foot."

Louis can't stop saying "Wow," and they send him home with a recording of the heartbeat and some ultrasound pictures.

Louis arrives back at his flat about an hour later. His sense of smell has gotten incredibly more sensitive than it was, which definitely isn't ideal when he opens the door to his flat and Harry is cooking broccoli, a smell that Louis could barely stand before he was pregnant. 

"Louis," Harry exclaims happily when he sees his boyfriend.

"Oh my god," Louis gags, putting his hand over his mouth. He drops his bag and power walks to his bathroom to expel the contents of his stomach.

Harry quickly runs after him, kneeling on the floor next to Louis. "So no more broccoli?" Harry asks sheepishly as he rubs Louis's back while he leans over the toilet.

"Maybe just when I'm not around. Or eat it raw, I don't know," Louis says, wiping beads of sweat off of his forehead and leaning back against the bathtub. "Sorry you have to see me like this so soon," Louis laughs.

"I do it once a week for Niall, might as well be a good boyfriend as well," Harry jokes.

"My hero," Louis chuckles, flushing the toilet and standing up to brush his teeth. "How bloody long do you reckon morning sickness lasts? Really need to get that 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' book, don't I?" he reminds himself.

"It usually stops after the first trimester," Harry says without missing a beat.

"Why duh yuh know tha?" Louis asks with his toothbrush in his mouth.

"I told you, I'm a good boyfriend, I might as well do my research, yeah?" he laughs. 

"Oi, well, I'm just slacking then, aren't I? The baby hasn't even been born yet, and I'm already a terrible father," Louis jokes after rinsing his mouth.

"Doubt you could ever be a terrible father, Lou," Harry answers seriously. Louis just smiles at his boyfriend's inability to joke about his parenting skills.

"Would you like to see the ultrasound pictures?" Louis asks, staring up at Harry fondly.

Harry smiles down at Louis. "Of course." He pecks him on the lips, regardless of the fact that Louis just threw up his breakfast.


	17. Seventeen

The next week, it's Harry's very last week as an intern, and all he wants in his life is a job offer. From any law firm. Literally ever. Dobrev has been letting him work with him on cases instead of getting everyone coffee for the past 2 weeks or so, and Harry's been doing fantastically if he says so himself. He's overheard Dobrev giving him great recommendations and talking very highly of him to potential employers. Today is the first day of his last week, though, so if anyone wants him, he should be getting calls asking him for an interview any day, and hour, any minute now. 

He's quite on edge at the moment. 

Right now, him and Dobrev are with a client who is about to begin an oral deposition about possible wrongful termination in their workplace. Today, Dobrev's letting Harry lead.

"Could you please state your full name for the record?" Harry begins, his voice only faltering slightly.

"Kendra Louise Barnes."

"And you are aware that you're being deposed in the case of Barnes vs. Benson?"

"Yes," the plaintiff replies.

"Have you ever deposed before?" Harry asks, his voice becoming more confident when he notices the smirk on Dobrev's face.

"No," she replies.

"In your deposition I am going to be asking you questions and you are going to be answering them under oath. Do you understand this?" He tries to keep his voice calm and gentle so that the client doesn't feel uncomfortable.

"Yes."

"Great. Now, there are a few differences between a deposition and a typical conversation that I want to make you aware of. First, the court reporter is attempting to transcribe everything we say," Harry says, motioning to the man at the end of the table who's typing everything they say. "In a normal conversation, people sometimes interrupt or talk over each other, but here it’s important that we wait for each other to finish asking or answering a question before the other begins talking. Do you understand this?"

"Yes," she nods.

"Perfect. Since this is an oral transcription, the court reporter cannot indicate head nods or other gestures or 'uh-huhs' and 'nuh-uhs.' Thus, every answer needs to be verbal. Do you understand this?"

"Yes."

"Finally, unlike a typical conversation, your answers today are under oath, and this subjects you to potential criminal charges of perjury for 'willfully giving false, misleading, or incomplete testimony under oath.' Do you understand this?" He keeps his face serious, but sweet.

"Yes."

"Now, is there any reason, such as being under unusual stress, a physical or mental condition, or being under the influence of any substances, that would prevent or limit you today from giving truthful answers to my questions?"

She shakes her head.

"Could you say your answer out loud, please?" Harry asks.

"Oh, sorry. No," she answers.

"Thank you," Harry smiles. "There is nothing wrong with asking me to repeat a question or explain a term if you don’t understand my question. However if you answer my question, I am going to assume that you understood it. Do you understand this?"

"Yes."

"However, if you need clarification of my question you need to look to me for clarification and not to anyone else. Do you understand this?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes, when I ask a question, you will have partial knowledge but not absolutely certain or complete knowledge. For example, if I asked you the temperature right now you couldn’t necessarily tell me the exact degree but you could give me an approximate answer, and even if you couldn’t, you probably know whether its really hot or really cold or somewhere in between. In that circumstance an answer of 'I don’t know' is not appropriate, but an answer giving a range or estimate based on your knowledge with an explanation that it’s a range or estimate is appropriate. Do you understand this?" Harry asks, and he sees Dobrev beaming and nodding his head in approval with just how well Harry's doing.

"Yes," she nods her head.

"Sometimes I might ask you a question in which you aren’t sure of the answer but you can reference some document and answer the question with certainty after you reference it. For example, if I asked you the balance of your checking account on a particular date you can ask to see the banking statement before you answer it. I can then decide whether to show you the banking statement and get an exact response or not provide it and get a less exact response. Do you understand this?" It's a good thing Harry doesn't mind talking in front of people, because he's never realized how many words he really needs to say with this occupation until now.

"Yes."

"Finally, I am entitled to what are considered complete answers. That means an answer that fully and completely answers my question. For example, if you had orange juice, toast, and coffee for breakfast, and I ask you what you ate for breakfast. If you answered 'orange juice' that would not be a complete answer, and you would not have properly answered my question. However, you are under no obligation to answer that question by telling me what you had for lunch, even if that was a more interesting meal. Do you understand this?" Harry cracks a joke to make Mrs. Barnes more comfortable with him.

"Yes," she laughs.

"Perfect," Harry says. "Now, what was happening the morning of April 27th, 2017, before you went into work?"

They're in that conference room for just over an hour after that, and Harry is actually quite surprised with how well he thinks he did. He knows he's not the only one when he feels Dobrev's hand collide with his back in the most proud way after they've said their goodbyes to Mrs. Barnes. 

"Don't tell Jeffrey, but I think you're my favorite intern," Dobrev says squeezing Harry's shoulders and giving him a quick wink before turning around and walking back to his office

Just then, Harry feels his personal phone vibrate from the pocket of his blazer and quickly scrambles to take it out of his pocket. He sees it's an unknown number and takes a deep breath before answering.

"Hello, this is Harry Styles," he greets, trying to be professional in case it's a potential employer.

"Is this the pizza parlor?" a woman's voice rings in Harry's ear. She must be at least 70.

He sighs, disappointed. "No, ma'am. My name's Harry, I believe you have the wrong number," he says politely.

"Oh, so sorry, dear," the old woman says slowly.

"No problem," Harry says and hangs up. He frowns to himself and decides to go talk to Liam, AKA, the only actual friend he has at work. "Hey, Li," he greets with a forced smile as he sits on the corner of Liam's desk.

"What's got you down, mate? You and Lou are fine, right?" Liam asks, a worried expression making its way across his face.

"No, yeah, me and Louis are great," he assures. He sees an incredibly relieved expression replace the worried one, but decides to ignore it. "I'm just afraid no one will want to hire me," Harry admits with a shrug.

"I dunno, mate, I saw Dobrev's face when you two came out of the conference room, and he looked well pleased with you. A good reference from him, and I'm sure you'll be getting interviews left and right," Liam says, slapping a hand on Harry's knee as some sort of weird assurance that honestly just made his knee sting.

"I appreciate that, Liam," Harry says, rubbing his knee where Liam hit it. "I just don't want to graduate and then have to choose between being homeless in London or going back to Cheshire to live with my mum," Harry laughs, feeling slightly defeated.

"Not to barge in on your relationship or anything, but I highly doubt Lou would let either of those things happen to you, Harry," Liam chuckles.

"We've only been together for about 5 weeks, he probably wouldn't even miss me," Harry looks down at his lap.

"Mate," Liam scoffs. 

"What?" Harry asks, raising his hands in the air. 

Liam rolls his eyes. "You and I both know that Louis is head over heels for you. Even if it has only been 5 weeks."

"That doesn't mean he could do anything about me possibly being homeless, Liam."

"First of all, H, you're not going to be homeless, and you're not going to have to move back to Cheshire. You'll be fine. Second, what would you do if Louis was having this dilemma?" Liam raises his eyebrows.

Harry fish-mouths for a second. "I guess I'd see if he wanted to move in with me. But that's just me trying to not let someone be homeless, Liam. I'd do it for you too. I'd just feel like a burden on Louis if he did that for me," Harry shrugs. "But obviously I know I'll be alright, but it's a matter of when I get a job. I won't be surprised if I have to move back in with my mum for a while. There's nothing wrong with that." Harry's phone rings again, and he sighs, assuming it's just another wrong number. "I've literally gotten 3 wrong number calls today. It's like the fates are testing me."

"Maybe this one's different," Liam shrugs. 

"Honestly doubt it at this point," Harry laughs before tapping the green 'Accept' button on his phone. "Hello?"

"Mr. Styles?" a professional-sounding woman replies, startling Harry slightly. 

His hand quickly flies over to Liam's bicep, grabbing and holding onto it with a tight grip. "This is he," he answers, his voice full of (professional) hope. 

"Hello, Mr. Styles. This is Ginger Mosely, Ms. Holt of Holt Law Firm's assistant. Ms. Holt would be delighted if you would join her for an interview over dinner Thursday evening," the woman says.

"Yes," Harry says slightly too fast, shaking Liam slightly too hard. "I mean, yes, ma'am, that would be lovely. What position would I be interviewing for?" Harry asks, punching Liam lightly in the arm so that his excitement transfers from his mouth to his hand. 

"The position is for a paralegal. She isn't asking for too much work experience, because she likes to teach her employees as they go. Obviously, though, this position is contingent on you receiving your degree."

"Of course," he agrees. He wouldn't mind being a paralegal. He might actually be quite good at that. 

"Alright, then, Mr. Styles. Be at The Garden restaurant at 8 Thursday evening."

"Thank you so much, Ms. Mosely. Tell Ms. Holt I look forward to meeting with her," Harry says, a huge grin creeping its way onto his face. They say their goodbyes and hang up. Harry immediately jumps up from his place on Liam's desk and hits Liam on the shoulder a few more times than necessary. "Yes!" he exclaims.

"Oi, alright, mate. You're going to bruise me," Liam laughs. "I told you that you'd be fine," Liam brags.

"I haven't gotten the job yet, Liam," Harry says before sticking his tongue out at Liam. 

"You are such a child," Liam laughs. Harry does some idiotic dad dance as a reply. "Don't do that in the interview," he jokes.

"Noted," Harry laughs.

He can't wait to tell Louis.


	18. Eighteen

Harry's been on edge all week since the interview. He felt quite alright about it when he left, but he keeps reviewing how it went in his mind, and every time he thinks about it, he just imagines that it went worse and worse than it did.

Harry did have 2 other interviews within that same week, which he was very thankful for, but the people he was interviewed by just seemed to be, well, assholes, to be frank. Just very, very pretentious and definitely the 'holier-than-thou' type. 

Ms. Holt was lovely though. She was very kind, and she seemed to be very passionate about her work. She was, Harry admits, a little pretentious, but a reasonable amount for someone of her stature.

His last day as an intern was 4 or 5 days ago, and he was actually quite sad to leave. He has a great time there and made a few good friends. At least he knows he'll see Liam again, seeing as him and Louis are best mates. Dobrev taught him a lot during his short time at his side, and he's eternally grateful for the experience. And the connections.

Harry can't believe that he's graduating next week either. It doesn't feel real to him. He's about to be completely done with any form of education, and he's about to be thrown out of his uni-provided flat and into the real world where, at the moment, he doesn't have a job or a place to live. So that's good. Harry's stressed. 

Today's the day that he's supposed to be receiving a call about the job, and he hasn't gone even a minute without checking his phone. A job offer is basically the make or break of whether or not he has to move back home with his mum, and he would really rather not move back in with his mum.

"Are you making dinner tonight, lad?" Niall asks, plopping himself down next to Harry on the couch. Harry's currently lying on his stomach with his legs hanging off of the arm of the couch. "Why are you lying like that?"

"Can't we just order in?" Harry turns his head to the side so that his friend can hear him. "I'm too paranoid about the impending doom of my future to cook," he mumbles.

"Harry," Niall says, shaking his head. "You're fine. If you don't have a job the second you graduate, you can still crash here until you get one. I'm still here for another semester, remember?"

"Yeah, but, Niall," Harry sighs, pushing himself up to sit upright. "I can't intrude like that while you're finishing up your studies. Especially with whoever the hell is taking my room when I leave."

"Naila's taking your room, lad," Niall laughs. "Don't think she'd care too much."

"Since when?" Harry asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"I dunno, like, 2 months ago, maybe?" Niall shrugs.

"Oh," Harry replies, his voice raising an octave. "So you guys are, uh," he smiles. "moving in together? So early in your  relationship?"

"We've had a great  _friendship_ ," Niall says, enunciating the last word. "for years. We're moving in together. As  _friends_ ," he states slowly.

"Sure you are, mate," Harry chuckles smugly, giving Niall a slap on the knee.

Niall rolls his eyes. "Harry-"

He's interrupted when there's a knock on the door.

"Fuckin' thank god," Niall mumbles, standing up to answer the door. Harry cackles at his red cheeks.

"Hey, Niall, mate, how are you?" Harry hears Louis's voice echo from the hallway, and he immediately stands up to walk over to him.

"Lou, thank you," Niall exhales, pulling Louis's head towards him and planting a kiss on his head. "Love you." He quickly begins to retreat back to his room before Harry can get in another comment about him and Naila.

"Love you too, Niall," Louis laughs, fixing his hair. His eyes seem to light up every time he sees Harry.

"Hey, Lou," Harry smiles, giving Louis a peck on the lips. "I didn't know you were coming over."

Louis shrugs. "I got bored, and I knew you were probably freaking out over the whole job thing, so I came to distract you," he giggles.

"Thanks, babe," Harry grins. 

"Do you have any clothes I can wear?" Louis asks. "I've been in my work clothes all day, and I can't do it any longer."

"Course, yeah," Harry says, taking Louis's hand in his and leading him to his room. Harry digs through his closet for a minute, trying to find something that might fit Louis. "I think everything I own is probably too big for you," he laughs, handing Louis a t-shirt and some joggers.

"Oi, gimme a break. I'm big," Louis replies, removing his shirt.

"Sure you are," Harry chuckles, stopping quickly. "Aw, Lou," he coos with wide eyes, slowly sinking down onto his bed.

"What?" Louis asks, furrowing his eyebrows and following Harry's gaze to his abdomen.

"You're showing," Harry grins, glancing up at Louis's eyes and pulling him closer by his hips so that he's standing in between his own legs.

Louis laughs, his eyes squinting. Harry loves the crinkles by Louis's eyes when he smiles.

"Yeah, a bit." He taps his tummy. "I had to loosen my belt a notch today."

Harry smiles up at Louis and pulls him closer to himself, wrapping his arms around his torso and squeezing him tightly, before placing a kiss on Louis's small bump.

"Was that weird?" Harry chuckles. "Did I make that weird?"

Louis giggles and shakes his head fondly. "Not at all. You're cute."

Harry squints. "I think I'm more along the lines of handsome or rugged," he jokes.

"Oi, shut up, Harry," Louis laughs, pushing Harry onto his back and climbing on top of him. He immediately attaches his lips to Harry's neck and runs his fingers through his hair, earning a little groan from his taller half.

He tears his lips away for a moment to slip Harry's shirt off so that he's able to feel Harry's skin against his. Harry places his hands on the back of Louis's neck and brings their lips together gently while Louis slides his hand down the front of Harry's joggers. Harry moans into the kiss, moving one of his hands down Louis's toned back to squeeze his glorious ass. He pushes Louis's hips down against his and whines against his lips at the contact.

Harry then hears his phone ring, and it feels like his life flashes before his eyes. He quickly disconnects their lips and reaches his arm over to where his phone is, grabbing it from its place on the bedside table and accepting the call without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?" he breathes.

"Hello, Mrs Styles?" Louis hears from the other line. "This is Ginger Mosely calling on behalf of Ms. Holt."

"Yes, hello, Ginger," he replies, frantically nudging Louis off of his lap and running a hand through his hair before wiping his slightly red and swollen lips off as he sits up.

Louis watches Harry's face as he repeatedly says "uh huh" and "yes" to whatever Ginger's saying, waiting for some indication that tells Louis how to begin reacting.

"Yes," Harry exclaims, slightly too quickly, his eyes widening immensely as he shoots up from his upright position on his bed and begins pacing around the room.

Louis thinks it's good news, but the pacing's confused him slightly.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry smiles before mouthing an ecstatic 'go my god' at Louis.

Louis immediately hops up from his place on the bed and stands in front of Harry, wrapping his arms around his midsection with a grin on his face as a silent 'congratulations.'

"Yes, thank you so much. Alright, I'll see you then. Thank you. Goodbye," Harry finishes, hanging up the phone. "I got the job," Harry breathes with wide eyes and a huge grin.

Louis runs his hands through Harry's curls. "I'm proud of you," he smiles, pecking his cheek.

"I can't believe I got it," he chuckles, completely shocked.

"When do you start?" Louis asks.

"About 2 weeks after I graduate," he says, making eye contact with Louis for more than 3 seconds for the first time since he answered the call.

"I knew you'd get it," Louis gloats.

"No, you did not," Harry scoffs with a small laugh.

"No, but I can say I knew, because you got it, so it doesn't do any harm," he shrugs.

Harry shakes his head at his boyfriend. "You're absolutely ridiculous."

"You're acting like you're the first person to say that to me." Louis sticks out his tongue at Harry, and Harry replies by bringing their lips back together and leading Louis back over to his bed where he begins to get on top of Louis.

Louis stops him, shaking his head. "I'm on top this time," he says, pushing Harry onto the soft mattress and climbing back on top of him. 

Harry can only reply to Louis's words with a moan.


	19. Nineteen

Harry wakes up on the day of his graduation to a smell that's rather, well, strange to say the least. At least, strange compared to the smells he's used to waking up to.

He's used to waking up to the smell of Louis's shampoo or the smell of Louis's cologne that's soaked its way into the fibers of Harry's pillows. He's used to the smell of Niall's slightly burnt pancakes and Louis's charred bacon.

But the scent his nose is picking up right now is nothing he's used to. He can't quite tell what it is, but it doesn't necessarily smell awful, so he decides to ignore it and try to rest his eyes for a little while longer. He reaches his arm over to cuddle Louis, but his forearm touches Louis's sheets instead of Louis's skin, and his fingers stroke a pillow rather than the scruff on Louis's chin. His eyebrows furrow at the lack of contact, and he slowly peels his eyes open, wondering where his boyfriend's gone. 

Harry takes in a slow deep breath through his nose as he pushes himself up from his position on his stomach and stretches out all of his limbs before groaning and falling quickly back down onto his chest. His closes his eyes once more, not quite understanding why Louis has woken up so early, but too tired to care. 

His eyelids part once more when he hears a string of badly-whispered curses coming from Louis's kitchen, and he turns his body to sit upright when the pace of his tiny footsteps quicken.

Harry's face contorts to give off a tired, but confused expression, and he slowly forces himself to slide off of the comfort of Louis's bed, pulling some boxers up his legs just in case Liam decides to pop in randomly. He's definitely walked in on Harry naked before, and they both would rather it not happen again.

He gently opens the door to Louis's bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes in the process.

"Jesus fuck," he hears Louis try to whisper, before a loud slam interrupts his words. " _Shit_ ," Louis all but yells, obviously frightened by whatever the noise was.

Harry pauses where he's standing for a moment. "Louis?" he calls out creeping forward, receiving no response. Harry instantly quickens his pace. "Louis, what the fuck?" is all Harry says when he makes his way to the kitchen.

Louis immediately turns to face Harry, clutching an object behind his back and giving Harry a sheepish smile. "Hey, Harry, baby darling, light of my life, man of my heart, cutie pie boo boo, apple of my eye-"

"Louis, how did you set the kitchen on fire?" Harry interrupts, slowly moving his way towards the singed kitchen counter.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Louis replies, way too quickly.

Harry glances between Louis's legs and sees a flash of red. He rolls his eyes. "You're holding a fire extinguisher behind your back," Harry chuckles. "and the bottom of your white cabinet is black," he adds.

Louis fish mouths for a second, before huffing and dropping his arms to his sides so that the fire extinguisher is more visible. "I tried, and therefore no one should criticize me," he says defensively.

Harry looks towards the source of the fire. "Louis, you were making tea," he laughs, motioning to the black spout of the tea kettle.

" _No one_ , Harold," Louis replies quickly, the pink tint on his cheeks growing redder.

"You're so cute," Harry fonds, shaking his head. It wasn't a bad fire, obviously. The black on the bottom of the cabinet was probably just soot, but the kettle's most likely ruined.

Louis scoffs. "I am not _cute,_ " he grumbles. "I'm manly," he mumbles, looking down at the fire extinguisher.

"Of course you are, dear," Harry smiles. "Now, hand me the fire extinguisher so I can put it away." 

Louis does as Harry says without making eye contact with him. Harry places the red lifesaver back under the sink where it belongs and looks back up towards Louis. "Breakfast?" he asks, wetting a rag to begin cleaning the soot.

"Yeah, I was just about to start cooking," Louis says. "I'll heat up the stove."

Harry gently grabs Louis's arm before he can reach the stove and smiles with his lips pressed together. "Maybe I should make breakfast."

"But I wanted to make you breakfast for your graduation day," Louis pouts.

"Yes, well, I think one fire's enough for today," Harry jokes, sliding his hand down from Louis's upper arm to his hand.

Louis rolls his eyes. "Fine," he sighs. "Can I at least help?"

"Course, Lou," Harry smiles, walking back over to the cabinet and scrubbing the soot off as best as he can. 

They manage to make it through breakfast without setting fire to anything else, but they did manage to burn the bacon. Harry's learned to love burnt bacon since he's been with Louis, though.

They take their sweet time eating and talking, and they make flirty comments to each other as they do so. A few hours later, though, Harry decides it's best if he goes back to his flat to get ready to graduate.

"Bye, babe, I'll see you tonight," Louis says, standing on his tiptoes to peck Harry's lips.

"I'll see you, Lou," Harry smiles, beginning to turn around. "Oh, wait," he turns back around to face his boyfriend. "Since I'm graduating, I mean, obviously my mum and sister are going to be there, so, I mean, if you want to, you can meet them," Harry says awkwardly. "But, y'know, obviously you don't have to if you're not ready." Harry swallows awkwardly, nervous about asking Louis if he wants to meet his family.

Louis just smiles. "I'd love to meet your family, Harry."

Harry gives Louis the biggest grin he's probably ever seen him give, and Louis can tell how much Harry's family means to him. "Alright, great," Harry breathes. "Bye, Louis."

"Bye, Harold," Louis waves as Harry hurries to his car. He watches as Harry drives off and immediately realizes that he's going to meet Harry's family tonight. Harry's family that means the absolute world to Harry, and who Louis doesn't know if they even know that he's pregnant. Louis wants to throw up. He runs his hand through his hair, taking in a deep breath, before turning around and sprinting back to his room to try and find something presentable to wear.

A few minutes later, Harry's back at his flat and trying on a million different outfits for Niall and Naila, who are honestly barely looking up and only kind of listening to Harry's frantic words.

"What about these boots with this shirt?" Harry asks, looking himself up and down in his full-length mirror.

"Harry, why are you so worried about your outfit?" Naila laughs, glancing up from the text messages on her phone. Her and Niall have been texting about how weird Harry's being while he continuously strips down and re-clothes himself. "You're wearing a gown over it anyways."

That comment makes Harry pause with his third pair of black skinny jeans around his mid-thighs. "Oh yeah," he mumbles to himself, pondering the various button-ups scattered around him.

"This is ridiculous, just go take a shower, Haz. Me and Naila will just pick something out for you," Niall rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, alright," Harry shrugs. "But make me look pretty, Louis's meeting my family tonight."

"I'm sure you'll look as gorgeous as always, Harry," Naila giggles, and Harry sees Niall furrow his eyebrows at her comment before looking back down at his phone.

"Not as gorgeous as Niall, isn't that right, Naila?" Harry says almost theatrically. He stopped trying to be subtle about this thing that they kind of have but kind of don't have a very long time ago. Niall rolls his eyes at Harry's comment, and Harry sees his cheeks go very red, very quickly, as he tries to hide his face from Naila.

"Uh, sure?" she says, squinting her eyes slightly and phrasing her comment more as a question.

"Anyways, I'm gonna shower now, please don't make me look stupid, thanks, love you guys, bye," Harry says quickly, ripping off his pants and walking to the bathroom closest to his bedroom.

"Ni, grab his black skinnys without the rips in them," Naila says, motioning to the jeans on the floor closer to him. "Those are better for a graduation than his ones with the rip near his ass," she says, making Niall chuckle and do as she says. "Do you think the shiny red and black shirt or the black and white speckled?" she asks, holding both of them up for him to see.

"I'm feeling red," he answers with a nod of his head.

"Aw, that's fun," Naila almost squeals, smiling at him and throwing the black and white shirt to the ground.

"Fun?" he laughs. He heart definitely did not skip a beat when she smiled at him.

"I'm wearing my red scarf tonight, so Harry and I are going to be all matchy" she laughs.

Niall smiles at her ability to get excited over the smallest of things, ignoring the slight jealous pang he feels for literally no god damn reason.

"You're so strange," he fonds.

She hits him on the knee. "You love it," she jokes.

"I do," Niall replies before he can stop himself. His eyes widen at his admission, but Naila doesn't notice as her eyes are already facing her hands in her lap with a slight tinge of pink on the apples of her cheeks. Niall's about to break the long silence when -

"What did I miss?" an underwear-clad Harry says as he wraps a towel around his head to help his hair dry quickly.

Niall sees Naila glance at him for a split second, but her gaze has already left him when he looks back at her.

"These jeans and this shirt," Naila smiles, handing him the clothes they had chosen. "with your black boots, preferably."

"Thanks guys," Harry says genuinely. He quickly slips his jeans on along with a belt before taking the towel off of his head, going into the bathroom to begin blow-drying his hair into a nice, but slightly messy quiff-type thing. He studies his face in the mirror and sighs. "Naila," he calls.

She walks into the door frame of the bathroom a few moments later. "Yes, your highness?" she says sarcastically with folded arms.

"Can you cover this pimple up?" Harry laughs, pointing to a red spot on his chin.

"Course, H," she nods. "Let me run to my flat really quickly and grab some concealer. Be right back," she smiles, walking towards Harry and Niall's front door.

She comes back in a few minutes later, as she only lives a few doors down, and quickly covers the spot on Harry's face, as well as a couple more he noticed while she was gone. Harry then goes back to his room and slips on the black satin shirt with red floral details that Niall and Naila chose for him, buttoning it up.

"Harry," Naila gives him a questioning look, one eyebrow raised as she's laying on her side next to Niall who's sat up straight.

"What?" Harry replies, raising his shoulders slightly.

"Button your shirt up properly, this is a nice event," she laughs. 

He looks down at the three undone buttons that allow his chest and tattoos to be exposed. Harry returns her raised eyebrow and slowly moves his hands up to the fourth button down, undoing it jokingly.

"Oh, very funny, Harry. I'm really amused by your immaturity," she quips with a laugh. "At least have them buttoned for the ceremony.

Harry just chuckles at his funny joke and buttons his shirt up, still leaving the top one undone.

"Good compromise," she nods.

"Alright, lad, you have to be there in half an hour, and we have to go get ready, so get your gown and get out," Niall says, handing Harry the long, frumpy black robe Harry has to wear along with a really stupid looking hat that's just going to mess up his hair.

"Fine," Harry sighs. "I'll see you two after the ceremony. Do you want to come to dinner with Lou and my family?"

"Sure," Niall says, echoed by Naila's "Of course."

Harry nods with a smile and turns on his heels to be on his way.

He arrives at the university gym where the ceremony's being held about 10 minutes before he's supposed to and finds his seat and who he's sitting by. He takes his time putting his robe on and pinning his hat to his head in a way that he really hopes won't leave any creases that will show up in pictures.

The heads of the university lead a quick run through of the ceremony, and everything's going great for Harry until they begin lining up to walk out. Harry knows that it's almost time to begin, because he can hear people piling into the gym from his place with the rest of the graduates behind the building. The thought that he might accidentally trip on stage runs through his mind and he starts to get butterflies in his tummy.

He feels his phone vibrate from his pocket, and he quickly takes it into his hand while talking to one of his friends from his environmental science class.

_We weren't able to save any seats for your friends, but I think I see your Louis sitting with Niall and Naila :) x -Mum_

Harry smiles down at his phone, his dimples coming out of hiding. He loves his mother so much, and he's so glad she and his sister were able to make it today. Before he knows it, he hears the music signaling them to start walking begin, and he follows the person in front of him to his seat. 

While he's walking into the building, his shoe starts to feel slightly loose, and he looks down to find out that it's coming untied, which, of course, has never happened before this instant. He sighs and waits until the brief pause he gets before walking to tie it back up.

He walks into the room with all of the friends and families of the graduates, and he can hear his sisters screams for him from a mile away. He finds her in the crowd and smiles up to her as he walks to his seat. He immediately sees his mum point to about 6 rows below them at Louis, and he can't help but smile even wider as their eyes meet and Louis gives him 2 thumbs up. Harry returns his thumbs up as he turns to file into his seat.

The ceremony is ultimately a bore for an hour while everyone gives their speeches and lines up until he's finally at the front of the queue.

"Harry Edward Styles," the headmaster says, signaling Harry to walk across the stage. He shakes hands with about 4 different people, smiling and posing for a picture whenever he's supposed to, and he walks back to his seat. The whole thing was kind of anticlimactic.

After the ceremony, he meets up with his mum and sister first, giving them both the biggest hugs he could, as it's been a few months too many since he's seen them.

"I missed you guys so much," he says, pecking them both on the forehead during their little family group hug.

"We missed you more, baby," his mum replies, rubbing his back a bit before they all pull away from the hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"I'm surprised you didn't trip, you big klutz," Gemma laughs.

Harry laughs. "My shoe did untie at one point, but I was quick, like a ninja, and I fixed it," he jokes, shouting a quick "Hiya!" which was accompanied by a karate chop.

"What a loser," Gemma breathes, and Harry just messes up her hair as a response. "How rude," she mumbles, smoothing her hair back into place.

Harry sees his mother's eyes widen a bit as she lets in a small gasp, before pushing through both of her children and making a b-line for that beautiful boy that Harry's lucky enough to call his. 

"Oh," Louis gasps as a strange woman he's never met attacks him with a bear hug. "Well, hello to you too," he chuckles, hugging her back.

Anne pulls away just enough for Louis to see her face. "I'm Harry's mum, and I've been dying to meet you," she smiles, going in for another bear hug.

"Oh, h-hello, Mrs. Twist, it's so nice to finally meet you," Louis laughs as she pulls away from the second hug.

"Please, love, call me Anne. You're already family as far as I'm concerned."

" _Mum_ ," Harry whines, his cheeks becoming slightly rosy at her mention of Louis being part of their family.

"Oh, hush, my boy," Anne says, waving him off and keeping her eyes on Louis. "I've heard so much about you, and I can't wait to hear more over dinner," she smiles. "Oh!" she gasps. "I need a picture of you two. Go on, stand next to each other."

Harry and Louis stand next to each other with Harry's arm around Louis's shoulders and Louis's around Harry's waist.

"Now kiss," Anne says with her phone ready to take another picture.

" _Mum_ ," Harry whines again, and Louis just laughs into his hand.

"Harry Edward, you are a grown ass man, and you can kiss your boyfriend in front of your mother. Go on," she urges sternly.

Harry just shakes his head and chuckles at his mother, turning his body to face Louis and placing his hands under his chin, bending down slightly to bring their lips together as Louis stands on the tips of his toes.

After a few moments to allow his mother to get whatever picture of them she wants, Harry disconnects their lips and smiles down at Louis, kissing his forehead, and wrapping his arm around his shoulders again to bring Louis closer to himself.

"Alright, our turn to get a picture with the graduate, my scarf matches his shirt," Naila says enthusiastically, motioning to the fabric covering her hair.

They all take more pictures, making sure everyone's in one at least once. (Of course, Anne for some reason wouldn't let Louis out of any of the pictures.)

For the rest of the night and the whole of the next day, Anne and Gemma spend a great deal of their time getting to know Louis. By the end of their short visit, Louis knows way too many embarrassing stories about Harry, and Harry hasn't been any color other than beet red since they arrived.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was way too long and way too rambly, I'm really sorry lol
> 
> -Cass


	20. Twenty

Harry and Louis decide that since the flats for Harry that they're being shown today are relatively close to Louis's place, they'll just walk, because as Harry puts it, "An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day!" he chirps, bouncing with every step he takes.

Louis shakes his head and scrunches his face at his boyfriend as he locks his door. "What kind of shit are you talking about right now, mate?"

"Excuse me, Louis," Harry scoffs jokingly. "I'm not to be referred to as a 'mate' by you. If anything, my nickname is 'love.'" Louis just rolls his eyes fondly. "And it's a quote by Henry David Thoreau," he says simply, shrugging his shoulders.

"Who?" Louis asks with squinted eyes, swiping his fringe out of his face as he pops a beanie on his head.

"The poet," Harry answers as if Louis is supposed to have heard of him. Louis just replies with a confused look and a shrug of his shoulders. "'I Am the Autumnal Sun?' 'On Fields O'er Which the Reapers Hand has Passed?' 'Epitaph On the World?' Anything?"

"I've got nothing, I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about," Louis says, his accent thick as ever.

"He's my favorite poet," Harry says softly, looking down at his feet.

"I didn't know you were into poetry." Louis takes Harry's hand as they saunter their way to the apartment building a few streets down.

Harry nods. "English was my favorite subject during secondary school and college. I also took a few poetry classes as electives during Uni."

"Really?" Louis asks. He's not quite sure why that surprises him. Harry is the biggest hipster he's ever met. Of course he likes poetry. "Have you ever written any?"

Harry's cheeks go very pink very quickly. "Um," is all he can say.

"You have!" Louis gasps fiddly, skipping up and down a few times as they walk. "I want to see! I want to see! I want to see!" he shouts like a child.

"Louis," Harry chuckles, placing his hands on Louis's per arms to try and get him to stop jumping. "People are staring."

"Oh, please. I'm gay and pregnant, do you really think I care if people stare?" he laughs. "Hey, I just rhymed!" Louis gives Harry a look, and Harry knows exactly why he's staring at him.

Harry sighs. "You're a poet and you didn't even know it," he says monotonously, giving Louis what he wants as they continue down the street.

"That's right, Harold," Louis replies quickly, nudging Harry's chest with his right pointer finger.

"It's Harry," he chuckles, shaking his head. "Anyways, you don't even look pregnant when you're wearing clothes yet, Lou."

"Are you kidding me? I'm glowing. This is the best my skin has ever been," Louis flips his fringe out of his eyes again, adjusting his beanie. "Plus, I've definitely worn a couple of those horrendous pregnancy shirts in public."

"That sounds like something I would do," Harry laughs. 

"Could you see yourself ever being pregnant?" Louis asks, genuinely curious.

"Yeah, I've always wanted kids," Harry nods.

"You can have the next one then," Louis says, his chuckle coming to an abrupt end once he realizes what he's implied and sees the surprised expression on Harry's face.

"Oh," Harry snickers, raising his eyebrows, his voice raising an octave. "Didn't realize you were already imagining us with kids," he says, poking fun at Louis.

"No, I didn't mean - that's not - I don't expect - oh my god," he stutters, mumbling the last bit and hiding his face in his hands.

"I'd love to have the next one," Harry laughs, nudging Louis with his elbow. "Hey, Lou?" Harry asks before Louis can respond.

"What?" Louis mumbles, glancing up at Harry.

Harry grins evilly. "The floor is lava."

Louis's eyes immediately widen, and he frantically begins searching for something to mount. Besides Harry, of course.

His eyes fall on a brick wall that's probably about 6 feet tall, and he grins, sprinting over to it as Harry counts down from 5.

On "2," Louis jumps and pulls himself up onto the wall, plopping his ass on the top of it and raising his arms in victory.

"I cannot believe you just did that to me," Louis calls to Harry as he walks over to him laughing.

"I can't believe you actually played along," Harry grins, showing off his dimples that Louis swears he could go swimming in, and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Are you kidding me? That game was my entire childhood. Me and my sisters used to play it almost every day. I'm kind of a pro," Louis jokes. He begins to scoot himself off of the wall, and Harry has a minor heart attack.

"Louis, be careful, the baby," he says quickly, holding his hands up to help him.

"Harry, the baby is so protected it's unbelievable. I can jump off of a wall, and it'll be fine," Louis laughs, scooting himself off all the way and leaping six feet down to the ground.

"Jesus," Harry exclaims frantically, his hands following Louis the whole way down. He takes a deep breath and puts one hand over his eyes, while the other finds its way to his hip.

Louis just laughs at Harry's overly dramatic nature and takes his hand from his face, leading him towards their destination once again.

It's only a few minutes later when Louis says, "Hey, Harry?"

"Yeah?" Harry responds.

"The floor is me. 5, 4-,"

Harry barely hesitates, laughing when he realizes what Louis said. He immediately drops himself onto the grass next to them, spreading out so that every part of him is touching the ground.

Louis begins laughing - more like squealing, and Harry thinks it's the most adorable noise he's ever heard. Louis's not sure what he expected, but it surely wasn't that.

"I think we're here," Harry says from his place on the ground.

"Are we?" Louis replies between laughs as Harry stands back up and dusts himself off, leading Louis to the place where he was told to meet the person who would be showing him the flat in this building. 

"You must be Harry!" a chirpy voice says from behind them, causing the pair to turn on their heels. 

"Yes, hello!" Harry smiles, holding his hand out to her. "This is my boyfriend, Louis," Harry says, motioning to the smaller boy. Louis and the woman shake hands politely. "And you must be Ms. Fancher."

"Oh, please, dear, call me Mandy," she says with a wave of her hand. Harry nods, doing that little bow thing that he does sometimes in response. "Let's get you up to the flat, then, shall we?"

"Perfect," Harry responds.

Louis doesn't quite know why Harry wanted him to come along on his little flat hunting adventure, but he assumes it's only because he didn't want to go alone, and Niall was probably busy.

"The flat that I'm showing you two wouldn't be the exact flat that you'd be moving in to, but the layout will be more or less the same," she smiles.

Mandy leads them through every room and points out little things throughout, like the washing machine is basically connected to the kitchen, and there's enough space for a king bed in the bedroom, yadda yadda yadda.

Louis can tell that Harry isn't completely thrilled about this flat as they go on. It was slightly smaller than the one he's sharing with Niall, but that makes sense since he'll be living alone this time around. He knows he wants an open concept kitchen and living room, and this flat doesn't have it.

Throughout the day, Harry and Louis view 3 or 4 flats, all completely different from the one before. They were all pretty near to each other. There was the slightly small 1 bedroom, the way too large 2 bedroom, the studio that Harry didn't even want to look at, and the loft, which Harry actually really likes. It's definitely a contender in his mind. 

By the time they get back to Louis's flat, it's about 4 in the afternoon, and Harry isn't sure if he should keep looking or not.

Harry plops himself down on Louis's bed, gazing up at the ceiling where he sees an odd stain of some sort. "I have to be out of the Uni flat by next Wednesday, so I really need to make a decision by, like, tomorrow morning if I don't want to be homeless for any amount of time," Harry thinks out loud to Louis while he removes his jeans. "You have a really nice ass," Harry says nonchalantly, tilting his head to look at his boyfriend.

Louis snorts at the quick change in subject, pulling on some grey joggers and removing his shirt. "Thanks, love. And stop worrying about being homeless. Niall's already told you that you can still crash there for a bit if you need to."

"I told you, I can't intrude on him and Naila like that. Plus, I'll need room for my stuff while I find a place, and there won't be any space once Naila moves in."

"When does she move in?" Louis asks, throwing Harry a pair of sweatpants that he had left there previously.

"The day after I move out," Harry replies, sliding his jeans off without getting up and pulling the sweats on. He sits up and folds his jeans neatly, placing them on the seat on the chair in Louis's room next to Louis's jeans that he had flung messily over the side.

"Love, you know I'm not letting you live on the streets if you don't want any of the flats we saw today," Louis chuckles, crawling next to Harry on his bed and curling himself into his side. 

Harry wraps his arm around the smaller boy's waist and kisses the top of his head. "It's not that I didn't like any of them, because I really like the loft. It's not too far away from work or-or from here." Harry shrugs shyly. "It's just that it might take a couple of weeks for whoever owns the building to actually allow me to move in. I should have had this all figured out ages ago."

"You sleep over all the time, y'know," Louis says quietly, lifting his head to look at Harry. "I wouldn't mind if you stayed for a few nights in a row."

"You're a poet and you didn't even know it," Harry chuckles down at him.

"Shut up," Louis giggles, swatting Harry's bare chest playfully. "Speaking of which," Louis smiles, pushing himself up into an upright position. "I want to read your poetry."

"Louis, I don't just carry it with me," Harry says, propping himself up onto his elbows as his cheeks slowly turn pink.

"Maybe, but knowing you, you probably have one or two memorized," he giggles.

"Louis, my poems are embarrassing," Harry sighs.

"So is the fact that you're dating a pregnant person whose baby isn't even yours," Louis laughs. "but you're still here, so."

"Lou, you know I'm not embarrassed by that," Harry says sincerely. "I told my mum the first time I talked to her about you, and all she kept talking about was how she couldn't wait to be a grandmother. She likes to think extremely far ahead," he mumbles.

"Oh, c'mon, Haz," Louis continues, trying to cover his pink cheeks that he gained from Harry's mother implying that Louis's child is also her grandchild. "I won't make fun of you, no matter how embarrassing," he urges.

"It's just, some of them are about personal things." Harry bites his lip.

"Are there any about me?" Louis jokes. expecting a no.

Harry pauses for a moment before shrugging slowly. "I mean-I don't know," he sighs. "I've written a few lately, and you might have been the muse for them, so I guess, yes?"

Louis's jaw drops. "Wait, really?" He readjusts his position so that he's facing more towards Harry, his legs crossed in front of him.

Harry shrugs again. "It's so embarrassing," he repeats.

"I promise I won't make fun of you," Louis smiles.

Harry covers his face with his hands and groans loudly. He's never shared his poems with anyone before, and there's a reason for it. They're not good. Most of them aren't even really poems, in his opinion. Sometimes he just gets bored and writes his feeling down in his brown leather journal that he's scribbled all over, and sometimes it rhymes.

"It's alright, love," Louis chuckles fondly, brushing Harry's hair back softly, with all the care in the world. "I'm not going to make you show me anything, but if I accidentally see one sometime, it's fair game."

"Deal," Harry laughs lightly, taking Louis's hand and kissing the back of it. "Roses are red, violets are blue, Louis's got a great ass, and it's quite firm too." Harry smiles at his joke, wriggling his eyebrows, and Louis just rolls his eyes.

"You're so annoying."

"You love it," Harry grins.

"Debatable," Louis jokes just as his stomach starts to rumble.

"The baby's hungry," Harry giggles, patting Louis's tummy twice. "Are you craving anything, Lou?"

"If I'm honest, I have never wanted mac and cheese more in my life than I do right now," Louis breathes out a sheepish laugh. He feels like as a 25 year old, he shouldn't eat boxed macaroni as much as he does. It's just so good.

Harry smiles and pats Louis's knee. "Well, you, good sir, just so happen to be in the presence of the macaroni king."

"King, huh?" Louis asks with a raised eyebrow. 

"That's right. The finest mac in all the land. From scratch."

"Well, Macaroni King, show me what you've got," Louis giggles.

Harry grins and stands up from his place on the bed, holding his hand out to Louis. Louis takes his hand with a smile, and Harry easily pulls him off the bed, leading him into the kitchen and gathering the ingredients. 

"Will you whisk the cheese in the pot to keep if from setting?" Harry asks about 10 minutes later, taking Louis's whisk from it's place above the stove and handing it to him while he prepares the creme that he'll need to combine with the melted cheese in a moment.

Louis glaces back and forth between Harry and the pot for a few moments, holding the whisk in mid air. "Um," he starts. "Harry?"

"Yeah, Lou?" he responds, looking up from the creme mixture to Louis's beautiful blue eyes that make him melt every time he sees them.

"How do you whisk?" Louis asks so innocently, and Harry thinks he just died a little bit inside. His boyfriend is 25 years old and doesn't know how to whisk, and for some reason, it's the cutest thing Harry's ever heard.

He can't help but smile down at Louis while he stands below him with pink cheeks. Harry gently places his hand under Louis's and begins to move the metal instrument in circles. "It's all in the wrist." He takes the creme he's been working on for a few minutes and begins to slowly pour it in with the cheese little by little while Louis whisks like a pro. Well. Not like a pro, because some of the mixture flies out at one point and almost burns them, but it doesn't, so Harry decides he's a pro. "Perfect," he says with a smile.

The look Harry gives Louis when he whisks (almost) correctly sends shivers down his spine. No one's ever looked at him like that before, and Louis swears that he can see a flicker of love in Harry's eyes. He quickly shoves that thought to the back of his brain and continues trying not to burn himself.


	21. Twenty-One

"Why are you so hyper today?" Liam laughs from his kitchen as Louis's tackled by Liam's new puppy.

He hadn't planned on adopting any animals when he went to the shelter as a favor to one of his friends about a week ago. But, low and behold, he met Lizzie, an adorable 6-now 7-week old black labrador retriever.

"Are you talking to me or the dog, mate?" Louis says between squeals as the puppy runs up his chest so that Louis falls onto his back on Liam's carpet. She immediately begins licking Louis's face all over as he continues to giggle and squeal every few seconds. 

"You, mostly. Aren't pregnant people supposed to be tired all the time or something? Because you're creating a human, or whatever," Liam shrugs, putting two scoops of protein powder in his afternoon shake.

"Ever since my second trimester started, I've been - stop it, Hillary Duff," Louis giggles, pulling Liam's dog away from his face.

"Her name's Lizzie," Liam whines. "Be nice to my dog."

"Anyways, ever since my first trimester started, I've gotten this weird boost in every for some reason. I don't know why. I still haven't read any books, but Harry would probably know the details if I asked him," Louis shrugs, sitting up and placing Lizzie in his lap, scratching her behind her ears.

"So you're making Harry do all the busy work while you sit back and relax?" Liam chuckles, pressing a button on his blender, causing it to roar and mix his shake up.

Louis scoffs. "Excuse you, I'm growing a human in my stomach. What have you done with your life in the past week?"

"I met a girl," Liam talks over the blender with a shrug.

"Ugh, the straights," Louis jokes, pretending to gag.

Liam just rolls his eyes and chuckles at his best friend.

"Alright, alright," Louis feigns a sigh, looking dramatically over at Liam. "Who is she?"

"Just a girl," Liam says vaguely.

"I can't even know her name?"

"No, because you're going to stalk her on social media again, and that didn't go over well last time," Liam reasons.

"Mate, it's not my fault that she had John Travolta's face tattooed on her shoulder blade," Louis says, his voice rising slightly.

"I thought it was Nicholas Cage?" Liam asks, squinting his eyes to which Louis responds with a shrug. "Either way it still haunts me in my sleep."

"Stop tattoo shaming 2k17," Louis laughs, taking one of Lizzie's paws and raising it in the air.

"Stop involving my dog in your charades," Liam says, sticking his tongue out at Louis.

"Oh, please, you can't even spell 'charades.'"

"S-H-"

"You've already fucked it up, mate, you should just stop," Louis cackles, making the dog dance to the sound of Liam's failure.

"Whatever, I'm a secretary, I don't need to be able to spell well," Liam rolls his eyes, pouring part of the protein shake he made into a cup and beginning to drink it.

Louis squints his eyes and tilts his head slightly to the side. "I don't-" he starts, trying to figure out if his friend is being serious or not. "I don't think that's true, Liam."

Liam just shrugs and downs the rest of his shake.

///

"Niall, will you help me?" Harry asks as he sits on the floor of his new living room that's void of any furniture besides the chair that his friend is currently occupying and his tv that's propped against the wall.

Harry ended up choosing the loft that had been shown to him and Louis on their adventure, and they allowed him to move in much sooner than he had anticipated. Of course, he didn't have much to take with him, because his dorm flat was already mostly furnished when he and Niall moved in, so Harry doesn't really have any furniture as of right now.

"With what?" Niall asks, taking another swig of his beer after peeling his eyes away from the golf channel that Harry has absolutely no interest in.

"I can't do this hand right. I'm right handed, I don't know why I thought this would be easy," Harry scowls, looking at the current atrocities that are the nails on his right hand. There's literally nail polish trailing down his pointer finger, and he has no idea how it went that wrong.

"Since when are you bad at doing your nails?" Niall laughs, sliding out of the chair to sit in front of Harry.

"I haven't painted them in awhile," Harry shrugs, removing the nail polish already on his hand with his polish remover. His mum sent him a little flat-warming present in the mail, which included a little succulent, a picture frame with a photo of him and his family, and three different nail polish colors.

"Alright, let me see your hand," Niall says, patting his knee, signaling Harry to place his hand there. "This one?" he asks, holding up the metallic rose gold polish that was half open. Harry nods, and Niall opens the vial up all the way, focusing to the best of his ability so that he doesn't mess up his friend's nails. He finishes the first coat after a couple of minutes and waits patiently for Harry to shake his hand and blow on his nails to speed up the process. He carefully paints the second coat, and Harry seems pleased with the final result.

"Thanks, mate," Harry smiles, holding his hands in front of his face and inspecting the polish. He forgot how much he loves having his nails painted. He quickly snaps a picture with his phone and sends it to his mum as a thank you. 

Harry spends the next hour barely touching anything he comes into contact with so as not to put any dents in his beautiful new nails. He uses his teeth and his feet a lot more than he usually would as well. 

"You really should think about getting some stuff for your flat, lad," Niall asks while he eats a sandwich off of a paper towel. Harry doesn't even have any plates or utensils yet.

"Stuff is expensive," Harry whines with a pout. "I get my first paycheck in two weeks, so I'll start thinking about furniture then."

"Fair enough," Niall says with his mouth full, and Harry grimaces at the sight.

"Manners," Harry scolds. 

Niall just rolls his eyes and takes another bite. "You and Louis fucked on my couch, I'll do what I want, thanks."

Harry's cheeks go red, and he gives Niall an awkward smile with his lips pressed tightly together as he turns away from him and takes out the trash.


	22. Chapter 22

"What the fuck are you doing?" Louis asks while he watches Harry refold an entire stack of button ups. 

Louis and Harry are currently out shopping for furniture for Harry's loft, and while Louis was distracted by the nursery section, Harry had somehow made his way over to the women's clothing section. It took Louis about 10 minutes to find him. 

"They don't have my size," Harry pouts, tucking the collar of the blouse under his chin to finish folding. 

"Well it's a good thing that we're trying to furnish your living room instead of filling your closet then, innit?" Louis laughs, helping him fold up the last shirt. "Harry, this shirt is £200."

"But it's so pretty," he whines, smoothing out the pink satin of the shirt on top. 

"C'mon," Louis sighs, rolling his eyes and grabbing Harry's hand. He drags him over to the section of the store that holds the majority of the furniture. Much to Louis's dismay, of course, because the nursery section is on the other side of the store for whatever reason. He just wants to look, okay?

"You need a couch," Louis mentions when he sees Harry go straight to the barstools, which are obviously much less necessary. 

Harry nods in agreement and walks over to the couches, his eyes immediately focusing in on a medium sized white couch with three cushions, one of the three about twice as long as the others so that you could spread your legs in front of you comfortably. Harry plops himself down on it and Louis watches him fondly as he moves around to gauge the level of comfort. "Do you think they have this in grey?" Harry asks, looking up to Louis. 

"There should be a tag on it somewhere that says the colors, let me look," Louis says, walking over to the other side of the couch and finding a tag slightly bigger than his hand with all of the color swatches on it and a price. "Yeah, it comes in light grey and charcoal," he nods. 

Harry stands up and looks at the two options. "I really like the light grey one."

"Have you already decided on a couch then?" Louis smiles, looking up at his boyfriend. 

"I think so," Harry says, showing off his dimples. 

"Make a note of the code and the color then so we can order it," Louis says and Harry smiles like he does every time Louis says 'we' when discussing something domestic. 

Louis watches Harry make a note in his phone and smiles at how he pokes his tongue out the side of his mouth while he types. 

"Will you look for a floor pillow while I try to find a TV stand over there?" Harry smiles with his hands clasped together near his chin. 

"A floor pillow?" Louis asks with a smile that enunciates the wrinkles by his eyes. 

"Yeah, it's like a big pillow, but like," Harry explains. "you sit on it on the ground."

"Alright, love," Louis chuckles. "I'll go look for one."

"Thanks," Harry smiles and pecks Louis on the cheek before going off towards the entertainment centers. "Oh, um, if they don't have pink, just try to get a neutral color," he smiles. 

Louis nods. "Floor pillows?" he mumbles to himself while he tries to find whatever section those are in. "What a hippie."

"Do you need help finding something?" a voice says from behind Louis. He turns around to find a man probably a few years older than himself and smiles. 

"Do you work here?" Louis asks, noticing that the man in front of him isn't dressed similarly to the other employees he's seen. 

"Well, no, but my dad owns it, so I know my way around the place," the guy shrugs. "Samuel," he says, holding his hand out to Louis with a smirk. 

"Louis," he replies, shaking his hand. Samuel's hand holds his for slightly too long, and Louis starts to feel uncomfortable. "So," he says awkwardly, removing his hand from the strange man's and smoothing out the hair on the back of his head. "Do you have floor pillows?"

"Yeah, over here by the poufs. Let me show you," he smiles, taking Louis's wrist and pulling him across the store. 

"Um, O-kay?" Louis says, allowing the taller man to drag him. 

Louis isn't sure if he's being flirted with or if his hormones are acting up, but a random stranger grabbing his wrist doesn't exactly make him feel comfortable. He decides he's probably overreacting. 

"Here they are," the man says, releasing Louis's wrist. Louis was definitely overreacting. Pregnancy hormones are kind of a bitch. 

Louis looks up at where Samuel motioned and sighs. Of course the only pink one is on the top shelf where Louis can't reach. He's tall, he swears, but the shelf is taller. He's tall, okay?

"Shit," he grumbles under his breath. He rolls his eyes and pushes himself up on his tippy toes, stretching his arms as long as he can. "Well that really boosts my self esteem, doesn't it?" he mutters to himself, pulling his shirt back down to cover his tiny baby bump. It's there, but still not really noticeable with clothes on. 

"Need help?" a voice says from behind Louis, making him jump. He quickly spins around and sees that Samuel is still standing near him. 

Louis gives him an awkward smile. "If you could."

Samuel nods and reaches up to the top shelf, grabbing the pink floor pillow by the corner and bringing it back down to Louis. 

"Oh, that's a big pillow," Louis laughs, stating the obvious and taking the pink plush from the man. "Thanks for the help, Samuel," he smiles and begins to turn away to find Harry. 

"Louis," Samuel says, placing his hand on Louis's bicep and turning him back towards him. 

"What, can I not take this? Do I have to order it, or-" Louis starts, confused. 

"No," Samuel laughs. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Oh, um," Louis says awkwardly, noticing that Samuel's hand is still resting on his bicep. "Well-"

"Excuse me?" Louis hears Harry say from a few feet away. 

"Hey, Harry," Louis smiles. 

Harry's lips are pressed in a straight line but he gives Louis a tight smile, glancing back and forth between the hand on his arm and the person connected to the hand on his arm. "Hey, love," he replies, wrapping his arm around Louis and flicking the random other bloke's hand off of his arm. "Thanks for finding the pillow," he smiles down at Louis. 

"Um," the two boys hear Samuel say. "I'm Samuel," he says to Harry, holding out his hand. 

"I'm Harry," he replies, ignoring the hand held in front of him. "and I would really appreciate it if you stopped flirting with my boyfriend." Sarcasm oozes from his mouth as he gives the other bloke - Harry can't be bothered to remember his name - a death glare. 

"Harry, he wasn't flirting," Louis says, his cheeks turning red. 

"Oh, no, I was," Samuel says with a smile and a nod. 

"Okay, well, he's pregnant, so you can just be on your merry way now,  _mate_ ," Harry says harshly. 

"Alright, alright, have a good day," Samuel rolls his eyes, walking away. 

Louis sends an annoyed glance to Harry, and Harry shrugs. "What? I don't like people flirting with my boyfriend," he says, placing a kiss on Louis's temple. 

"Jealous, much?" Louis teases. 

"Maybe," Harry rolls his eyes. 

"You said I was pregnant with your child, Harold," Louis laughs, adjusting his grip on the pillow. 

"I didn't say it was mine," Harry argues, taking the floor pillow from Louis's arms. 

Louis scoffs. "It was implied."

"Okay, I was jealous, you got me, can we go now?" Harry whines. 

"Did you find something to put the TV on?" Louis laughs. 

"Yes, and a rug and a lamp," he sighs. 

"Alright, let's go pay then. We can keep shopping later," Louis complies, standing on his toes to peck Harry on his cheek. 

"Thanks," Harry grumbles, tucking the pillow beneath one of his arms and wrapping his other around Louis's waist to lead him to the front of the store. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I high key hate this chapter bc it's literally so unimportant (and badly written) but idk I think jealous Harry's cute so I included it instead of erasing it from the notes on my phone lmao (I literally have most of the rest of the fic on my phone)
> 
> Anyways, Louis finds out the sex of the baby in the next chapter, but I won't be able to update for at least a week bc I'm a camp counselor, sorry :( I already have it written though, so I'll just need to copy, paste, and edit, so it should be up on Monday or Tuesday!!
> 
> Q: Do you think the baby's a boy or a girl??


	23. Twenty-Three

"Liam, I'm freaking out," Louis says into his phone as he's driving back to his flat from his 16 week OB appointment.

"Why? Is there something wrong with the baby?" Liam asks, obviously quite worried. 

"No, the baby's perfectly fine, but there is an envelope on the passenger's seat next to me with a piece of paper in it that has the gender of my child written on it, and I'm so fucking nervous," he says, biting his lip and turning his left blinker on. 

"What's to be nervous about? Do you care what it is?"

"No, not at all. I grew up with like 28 younger sisters, so I'm good at handling little girls, and I'm a guy, so I'm sure I'd be alright at raising a little boy, but I-I don't know," he sighs. "Obviously, I'll love it no matter what, but I just. I don't know, maybe I should just let the whole thing be a surprise. I'm not sure if I even want to know the gender."

"But I want to know," Liam whines into the phone. "So I can buy him or her things."

"Liam, you can buy whatever 'gendered' stuff you want, and I'm sure I'll still use it regardless," he says as he pulls into the driveway of his flat. He sees Harry waiting in his car for him and goes to knock on his window, scaring the living shit out of the boy. He waves, laughing at his terrified face, and Harry makes his way out of the car. 

"I can come over after I get back from my mum's and be there when you open it if you want, but it wouldn't be until tomorrow evening."

"No it's fine, Li, Harry's here with me. I can just call you later."

"Sorry, Lou," Liam says, sounding slightly guilty that he couldn't be there. 

"Don't worry about it, Li, I still love you," Louis says with an upbeat tone, unlocking the door to his flat and letting himself and Harry inside. 

"Love you too, mate. Anyways, I've got to go. Call me later tonight to tell me the news, alright? Around 7 fine?"

"Perfect. Bye, Li," Louis says before hanging up. 

He looks up from his phone to see Harry standing in front of him with a nervous smile, looking like he's literally about to vomit. 

Harry almost seems more nervous than him about finding out the gender, which is strange, seeing as it's not even Harry's baby. 

Harry doesn't understand why he's so terrified either, to be fair. For some reason he just feels so attached to Louis's baby. Obviously, he realizes that it's not his, and that he really shouldn't care this much, because the odds of him and Louis working out forever are quite slim, but he just can't help it. 

"Are you ready?" Harry asks, hopping up and down slightly with his hands clasped together in front of his mouth. 

"Not even a little," Louis laughs, staring down at the envelope in his hands. "Honestly, Haz, I'm not even sure if I want to find out," he sighs. 

Harry nods in understanding. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Lou. It's your baby. Plus, the gender your baby prefers might not even coordinate with the sex it's assigned, so really you might not actually find out until they're like 15," Harry rambles. 

"You're not wrong," Louis laughs. His smile quickly fades into a nervous frown, and he just shakes his head. "I think we-I mean I-I think I should just do it," he sighs. "I'm sorry that my brain keeps trying to bring you into this as if it's your kid too. I really don't mean to put any sort of pressure on you."

Harry grins at the smaller boy and shakes his head fondly. "I really don't mind being brought into it, Lou. If we're still together when the baby comes, I wouldn't mind being involved at all. I love kids. Especially yours," he says, moving closer to Louis and slowly bringing their lips together. 

"No offense, Harry, but you're the strangest 23 year old that I've ever met," Louis says after Harry pulls away. 

"How's that?"

"I told you I was pregnant with some other bloke's baby on our first date when we were about to have sex, and you kept dating me," Louis says monotonously. 

"I was very infatuated with you," Harry shrugs. "Still am."

"And you continue to involve yourself in things to do with the baby, and I swear you're more protective than I am sometimes."

"That's part of dating someone who's pregnant, Lou. I know what I'm getting myself into, and I'm perfectly alright with it," Harry says, placing his hands on Louis's shoulders. "I love kids."

"Alright, alright, let's just open it, I guess," Louis says, biting his lip nervously. 

Harry watches intently as Louis slowly removes the tape from the back of the envelope and pulls the folded piece of paper out, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. 

"1, 2," he counts under his breath. "3," he says and quickly unfolds the paper. His hand shoots to his mouth as he sees the four letter word staring back at him. "Oh my god, Harry," he begins to tear up. 

"What is it?" Harry asks frantically. 

"It's a boy," Louis sobs happily, turning the paper around to reveal the word 'male.'

Harry immediately grins and pulls Louis into a hug, ignoring the tears he feels on his chest. "I'm assuming you're happy then?"

"More than happy," Louis replies, wiping his eyes. "Do you mind if I call my sisters really quickly?" Louis asks and Harry shakes his head with a smile. 

"Tell them I say 'hi,'" Harry says as Louis dials Lottie's number. 

He nods with a sniffle. "Hey, Lots," he says after a minute. "Are you with any of the other girls? Great, um, will you get them all together and put me on speaker? Thanks, babe." 

Louis breaks the news to them a few moments later, and Harry can hear joyful screaming and multiple "congrats, Lou"s from where he's standing. Harry just marvels at his boyfriend's happy smiles and how blue his eyes become when he cries. How he tends to cover his mouth when he laughs and the overwhelming urge Harry always feels to touch him in some way or form, sexual or otherwise. 

"Harry says hi, by the way. Yeah, he's here. Alright, hold on," Louis says and takes the phone away from his ear, putting it on speaker. "You're on speaker."

Harry is almost shocked to hear the amount of shrill screams that are coming from Louis's phone. He vaguely makes out a few "hi"s and there's a "when are we going to meet you?" thrown in there somewhere. 

"Hello," Harry laughs, dragging out the "o." "And hopefully we'll get to meet soon, but I think that's more up to Louis than myself."

"Alright, well now that we've formally pressured me into things, I think it's time I let you guys go. I'll talk to you all later, alright?" Louis jokes. 

"Bye, Louis!" they all scream at the phone. 

"Love you guys," he says, hanging up after they return the comment, a couple of them adding in a "love you, Harry!" as well which he politely returned.

"Your sister's are cute. I thought you had a brother too, though?" Harry asks. 

"I do, but he's a toddler, so he's not so good at talking on the phone yet," Louis laughs. 

"You seem happy," Harry fonds. 

"I'm honestly so excited. My family basically never has boys. Out of 7 of my mom's kids, she got 2 boys, and we're more than 20 years apart, so this is just so amazing."

"Now you can start thinking of names," Harry smiles. 

Louis grins so widely at that thought, that he feels the need to cover his face to hide the smile lines that have probably just been indented into his cheeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is short and shit, but it's finally here! I don't like this chapter, but I have sooo many that I'm so excited to let y'all read!! It's taking me so long to get to them though :(
> 
> I think the next chapter is probably going to skip forward about a month, and it'll just be a filler, but we're only 1 or 2 chapters away from the big reveal (for Harry at least)!!
> 
> Q: what do you think about the baby being a boy??
> 
> (((p.s. idk why I chose boy, it just felt right for some reason lmao)))


	24. Twenty-Four

It's 3 am when Harry wakes up to his phone ringing incessantly. He grumbles to himself and turns over, snatching the annoying piece of glass from his bedside table and checking the caller ID. 

If it had been anyone besides Louis, he would have let it go to voicemail. 

"Louis?" Harry answers gruffly with his deepest morning voice. Or middle of the night voice. 

"Harry," Louis whimpers. 

The sound of his boyfriend's sniffle makes Harry immediately sit up on his bed and turn his lamp on. "Are you alright, love?" he asks worriedly. 

"Something's wrong," Louis sniveled. 

"What's happening, Lou?" Harry asks, getting out of bed to frantically put clothes on so he can rush his way over to Louis's flat. 

"It keeps feeling like I'm having a muscle spasm, but like, in my stomach. It keeps happening," Louis blubbers. "I don't think that's supposed to happen."

Harry sighs, but in the fondest way. "Does it kind of feel like butterflies flying around the inside of your tummy? Or a grasshopper hopping across it?" he asks, sitting back down on his bed and rubbing his eyes. 

Louis sniffles. "Kind of. Oh-it just happened again!" he cries. 

"Louis, that's the baby kicking," Harry laughs. "Nothing's wrong."

"What?" Louis asks, and Harry can imagine Louis's face right now. His deep, sea-blue eyes are now teal and watery and his eyebrows are tilted slightly upwards in the most innocent and confused way. His red lips have most likely formed into an involuntary pout, and his nose is probably blotchy. Harry really can't get enough of Louis. 

"You're about 20 weeks now, right?" Harry asks with a doting smile planted on his face. 

"Yeah," Louis sniffs. 

"At around 16 to 25 weeks during your first pregnancy, you'll start to feel the baby kick, and it feels like a muscle spasm or butterflies. He's just telling you that he loves you." Harry begins taking his shoes off. "Press down where you felt him kick."

Harry assumes Louis does as told because he hears a little gasp come from him. "Harry, I pressed where he kicked, and he kicked my hand," Louis cries. 

"He loves you," Harry smiles. He hears Louis sniffle again, and assumes that they're happy tears this time. "Louis, you really need to read the book I gave you," he laughs. 

"Should, shouldn't I?" Louis replies quietly. Harry can tell that Louis's attention is no longer mostly on Harry, but on the life growing inside of him. 

"Alright, Lou, I'm going to go back to sleep," Harry says with a yawn. 

"Okay, H," Louis says, and Harry can hear his smile. 

"You should too, you have work tomorrow."

"Alright, Haz. See you tomorrow?" Louis asks. "Maybe he'll kick for you," he laughs. 

"Maybe. Goodnight, Lou." 

///

The baby did not kick for Harry. 

The baby not only refused to kick when Harry was around, but always seemed to kick the second Harry left the room. 

It's like he has a personal vendetta against him or something, and it's honestly kind of bumming Harry out more than it should. 

At the moment, Harry is kind of moping around while he helps Louis make dinner for the two of them. 

"Harry, what's wrong?" Louis asks, placing the chicken breasts in the oven. 

"I'm alright," Harry lies, giving Louis a fake smile. 

"Did I do something wrong?" Louis presses, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist. 

Harry presses a kiss to his boyfriend's forehead and pulls him deeper into his side. 

"Course not, Lou." Harry sighs. "If I'm honest, I just don't understand why he won't kick for me," he pouts. "Maybe he doesn't like me."

Louis coos at Harry's insecurity. "H, he hasn't even left the womb," he laughs. "He doesn't even necessarily like me yet."

"Of course he likes you, Lou, you're his father."

Louis gives Harry a soft smile and presses a tender kiss to his cheek. 

"He'll kick for you eventually. I'm only 21 weeks along. 19 more to go." Louis smiles fondly for a minute before his face changes into one of complete terror. "19 weeks?" he exclaims. "I really need to start working on the nursery. Like, right now. Oh my god." 

"We'll go shopping for it this weekend, alright?" Harry says, pecking Louis on the lips. 

"Yeah, alright," he smiles. "Thanks, Haz."

Harry looks down at his boyfriend's thankful face and strokes his cheek with his thumb. "I lo-" Harry starts without thinking and stops himself almost immediately. His eyes widen at himself as he sees Louis's eyebrows raise in slight shock and/or confusion. He coughs awkwardly, taking his hand from Louis's face and looking anywhere but his boyfriend's eyes. "I, um," he coughs. "I'm going to check on the potatoes."

"Good, um, I'm just going to," Louis says just as awkwardly, pointing his thumb to the outside of the kitchen and slowly backing his way out. "Yeah." He walks away. 

"Jesus," Harry mumbles to himself, putting his elbows on the island and his face in his hands. He knows he's not ready to say those three words to Louis, and he has absolutely no idea why his mouth tried to. 

Maybe he is ready. 

He runs his hands through his hair and down his face to shake off those thoughts. He's not ready. And neither is Louis. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is rly short, but it's cute so idc
> 
> I only had so much time to write yesterday (I got a tattoo!) and this is what happened, so yeah! 
> 
> Y'all... the next chapter is kind of a doozy, and I know for a fact that if you're into this fic at all, then you've been waiting for the next chapter for literally ever, bc someone finds out that the baby is Harry's. I wrote the fic, and I'm not even ready.
> 
> Q: how do you think they're going to react to the news???


	25. Twenty-Five

"Hey, Lou," Harry greets, pecking Louis on the cheek as he lets him into his flat. 

"Hey," Louis sighs, walking over to Harry's dining table with a mountain of papers in his hands. "I need help," he pouts. 

Since Louis's now almost 6 months pregnant, his baby bump has proven to be quite the annoyance. It's finally big enough that he can't stand up normally, and it's made it slightly more difficult to do stupid tasks like carry things. His clothes are also becoming tighter, and he's had to start wearing maternity jeans. He's just not feeling great about himself right now. 

"How can I assist?" Harry chuckles, sitting down at the table next to Louis. 

"I need to get this paperwork done for my 6 month appointment in a few weeks. She can't fit me in until I'm 6 1/2 months, actually, but I still need to get it done and send it in. And I need to make a ton of pointless phone calls for Montgomery because of this damn lawsuit before tomorrow," Louis sighs, rubbing his temples. 

"Why don't you put off the paperwork until you're done with the phone calls and then start that? You have almost a month to finish it up," Harry suggests. 

"I know, but my OB wants the paperwork on the donor by Friday because she wants to look through his family history to make sure there's nothing she needs to look extra carefully for," he says. "She knows a lot more about him than I do."

"This late?" Harry asks, confused. "Shouldn't she have asked for that when you first got pregnant?"

Louis smiles sheepishly. "I was kind of supposed to have them ready for her by my four month appointment," Louis explains, looking everywhere except at Harry.

"Louis," Harry scolds, chuckling. "That stuff is important."

"I know, I know," he replies, waving his hand in the air. "It's just so boring," he whines. 

Harry rolls his eyes fondly. "I'll help you make the calls so we can start on the paperwork faster, alright?"

Louis nods, grinning and appreciative grin and clasping his hands together. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he repeats. 

"What would you do without me?" Harry jokes. 

"Get fired," Louis laughs, dialing his first number and pointing to another for Harry to dial. 

Harry begins dialing and sighs to himself as the first call begins to ring. "Mr. Hearst, hello," Harry begins. 

At the very least an hour passes, and they're still calling random people to inform them that their bank accounts are about to get slightly heavier. 

"Why does he have to have so many damn clients," Louis mumbles between calls as he dials another. 

"I must have called at least 30 people," Harry says after hanging up on Mrs. Johnson, an incredibly old woman with atrocious hearing. 

"4 more," Louis answers with a fake smile, putting his phone up to his ear. 

Louis finishes the very last call almost 15 minutes later. "These calls should only have been like 30 seconds each," he complains. "Mr. Gentry has the nerve to rant and rave about how much his wife talks, when he keeps me on the phone for 10 minutes at a time," Louis rolls his eyes. "Sexist bastard."

"Can we take a break before we start the paperwork?" Harry begs. 

"Abso-fucking-lutely," Louis replies, standing up and making his way to Harry's exceptionally comfortable couch. "A short one, though," he says, closing his eyes. 

Harry plops himself down next to Louis, and Louis moves so that his head is in Harry's lap and his legs are hanging off the arm of the couch. Harry instinctively begins running his fingers through Louis's disheveled hair and rolls his thumb across Louis's stubbly cheek, causing the smaller boy to smile up at him. 

Before either of them realize it, they both drift off into a slumber. 

///

Harry wakes up with a jolt, his head shooting up from its position on the back of the couch into an upright position. 

"Jesus," he mumbles to himself, rubbing his eyes before realizing that Louis is still fast asleep in his lap. He smiles down at the boy, wondering how he got so lucky. 

He checks the time on his phone to see that they've both taken about a 2 1/2 hour nap, and grumbles to himself, thinking about the paperwork that he needs to help Louis finish. 

"Louis," he says softly, brushing the hair out of Louis's eyes. The boy's breathing remains soft and steady, and Harry really doesn't want to wake him. "Louis, babe, we need to do the paperwork," he says, slightly nudging him. He puts his hand on Louis's growing belly and shakes it ever so gently. 

Louis groans and furrows his eyebrows, wacking away Harry's hand and turning onto his side to face the back of the couch. 

"How about I do what I can and you finish it up when you wake up completely?" Harry offers, wanting his boyfriend to get as much sleep as he needs. He knows that the baby's kicks have been keeping him up lately, even though Harry has never felt him kick himself. He maneuvers himself out from under Louis, and Louis nods slightly, wiggling himself deeper into the couch. Harry gives him a quick kiss on the temple before heading over to the table once again to begin the paperwork. 

Patient's name: Louis Tomlinson

Patient's DOB: 12/24/1991

He skips over Louis's blood type as well as his social security number, as he obviously has absolutely no fucking idea what those are, but writes down the month of conception along with his height and a few other things. He leaves the places where Louis needs to sign. 

' _Louis really tries to push this whole '5'9"' thing, doesn't he?_ ' Harry thinks, chuckling to himself. 

He gathers and organizes Louis's shot records, prenatal prescriptions, list of worries, along with a few other things into a folder that he labels and color codes. He sees all of the information Louis has on the sperm donor on the corner of the table and picks it up, setting it next to himself, as he wants to organize that next. 

"Donor Information," Harry reads to himself, realizing that he hasn't filled that portion of the paperwork out yet. He figures since the entire donor packet is next to him, he could go ahead and do this himself instead of leaving it for Louis. 

Harry opens the packet and begins filling the paper out without thinking about what he's reading. 

_**Donor ID#:** #072310 _

_**Blood type:** B_

_**Eye color:** Green_

_**Hair color:** Brown_

_**Hair type:** Wavy/curly_

_**Height:** 5'11"_

_**Ethnicity:** White_

Harry chuckles to himself once he realizes how closely this resembles himself. He assumes Louis has a type. Of course, Harry has absolutely no idea what his blood type is. 

Harry's breath catches when he sees the donor's birthdate. 

_**DOB:** 02/01/1994_

His eyebrows furrow and he immediately pulls the copy of the donor's donation page closer to his face. 

"Schooling Background: I am a final year law major with a double minor in business and sociology," Harry reads to himself in disbelief. "Aspirations: All I really want in life is happiness and love." Harry's mouth is exceptionally dry at this point. "Oh my god," he mumbles. 

He looks back up at the donor ID. "#072310." He quickly goes through his phone to find the email with his own Donor ID. "#072310," he reads quietly. 

Harry has no idea what to think at this moment. The room starts spinning and the only thing he can bring himself to do is stumble to the bathroom as quietly as he can, so that he doesn't wake Louis, and throw up everything he's ingested today. He sits against the bathroom wall in shock as the room spins around him. 

He has absolutely no clue how to feel right now. He was all for trying things with Louis when the person inside of him was some other bloke's, because there would be no repercussions on any of them if things didn't work out, but now the baby's Harry's? That really complicates things. Not that Harry wants to break up with Louis at all, but what if Louis wants to break up with him one day? 

Does he know that the baby's Harry's? No, of course not. He would have told Harry. But the similarities on the donor sheet are uncanny. But Louis doesn't even know that Harry's ever donated. 

Harry quickly leans over the toilet again, emptying out whatever could have possibly been left in his stomach. 

"Harry?" Louis knocks. "Are you alright?"

"'M fine," he says back, slightly too fast.  He quickly wipes his mouth and flushes the toilet, leaning against the sink taking the deepest breaths he possible can. 

Does he tell Louis what he knows?

He opens the bathroom door to find a very worried looking Louis. "Are you okay?" Louis asks, tilting his head to the side. Harry thinks that might have been one of the cutest things he's ever seen. 

"'M fine," Harry says with a tight smile. 

"Did you throw up?" Louis asks, placing a hand on his round tummy. 

Harry can't help but stare at Louis's protruding belly. "Uh, y-yeah," he manages to stutter, glancing back and forth between Louis's eyes and his stomach. 

"I'm so sorry, if I had known you were feeling sick, I wouldn't have let you do all that paperwork by yourself," Louis pouts. 

"It kind of just hit me suddenly," Harry says vaguely. 

"Do you want to go lay down?" Louis asks. 

"I think I'm just going to, um, just like, watch some Netflix or something," he coughs. 

"May I join you?" Louis smiles.

Harry forces a smile and nods. "Of course. Just let me brush my teeth." 

It's not like Harry now has a different opinion of Louis or anything. He loves spending time with him, and he might even love Louis himself, but he's not sure yet, and now they're somehow having a child together, and Harry feels nauseous again. 

Louis leads Harry back to the couch and sits him down, handing him the remote. 

Harry coughs awkwardly. "Friends?"

"Sure," Louis smiles. "I'm just going to finish up the paperwork really quickly."

"Alright," Harry says, pressing 'play' on the remote.

About halfway into The One That Could Have Been, Louis sits down next to Harry on the couch and leans into his side. Harry instinctively moves his arm to wrap around Louis's shoulder and squeezes him slightly, taking a deep breath. 

"Did you finish it?" Harry asks, glancing over at Louis, his eyes being drawn towards Louis's stomach again. 

"Yeah, I'll take it in tomorrow," Louis answers. "Thanks for doing some of it for me, I really appreciate it," he says, cuddling more into Harry's side. 

"'S no problem, Lou."

A few minutes later, Louis gasps and sits up abruptly, startling Harry. 

"Are you alright?" he asks, slightly terrified. 

"He's kicking," Louis laughs. "Quick, feel," Louis says, taking Harry's hand and placing it on his stomach near his belly button. 

Of course the first time Harry's feels Louis's son -his son?- kick would be when he's already in a very emotional state. 

Harry almost immediately starts to tear up, and he's not sure whether it's because he's completely terrified or because he's actually happy about what's happened in not even the past hour. 

Louis's eyes widen. "Why are you crying? Did I weird you out? I'm so sorry," he says quickly, taking Harry's hand off of his stomach. 

"No, I just," Harry debates on whether or not to tell him what he knows, but he just can't bring himself to. "I've just never felt him kick before. It made it really real."

"So real that you want to break up with me now?" Louis chuckles nervously, only partly joking. 

"Not at all," Harry laughs, repositioning himself so that he's laying on his stomach and placing his hands back on Louis's tummy. "Hello," he speaks softly to Louis's baby. His baby too, he concludes. The baby kicks right against Harry's hands, causing him to jump slightly and Louis to laugh. 

Harry has never been so terrified in his life.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ok so i know i just updated literally yesterday i think, but i was too excited to wait for this chapter??? idk i don't have an update schedule lmao (honestly we're getting to the section of the story that I'm really excited about, so updates might come more frequently??? we'll see!) 
> 
> I have most of the next chapter written, but I still need a little more for me to be satisfied with it, so it might be a couple of days before the next update! (or it could honestly be tonight i literally don't know when I'll be in the mood to finish it lmao i hate myself)
> 
> Q: what do you think about Harry keeping what he knows to himself? How long do you think that'll last??


	26. Twenty-Six

" _What_?" Niall and Naila collectively screech at Harry's anxious face. 

"Louis's baby is my baby," Harry admits again. He still can't believe what he knows. He doesn't understand how out of thousands upon thousands of donors Louis could have chosen, he chose Harry's. Especially knowing how pregnant Louis is, because he would have had to choose Harry's sperm within a few days of him donating. Harry gasps and claps his hand against his mouth. "I saw him at the clinic," he exclaims in a whisper. "He was there the day I donated."

"Why are you whispering?" Naila whispers back, leaning in and mocking Harry. 

"How do you even know it's yours?" Niall asks with wide eyes and a hand in his hair. 

"I was helping him do some paperwork for his doctor's appointment, and I saw a copy of his donor's application, and it was  _my_  donor application," he says frantically, pointing a finger at himself. 

"You never asked him about the donor? Ever?" Niall asks and Harry shakes his head. 

"I didn't really want to know much about the bloke who knocked up my boyfriend. Little did I know, it was me," Harry laughs, almost maniacally, his nerves getting the better of him as he tries not to rip out his hair. Saying that only made him a little nauseous this time though. He's getting better. 

"Oh my  _god_ ," Naila says incredulously. "So you're, like, a dad now?"

"I mean-," Harry sighs heavily, standing up and pacing around his old living room. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Niall laughs, crossing his arms and leaning back on his couch. 

"Stop laughing," Harry whines, stomping his foot. "This is serious."

"What did Louis say when you told him?" Niall asks, trying to be more serious for the sake of his friend's sanity. Niall, of course, doesn't understand why it's such a big deal seeing as Harry was already wanting to be involved anyways, but he doesn't mention that. 

"Well," Harry's voice comes out in a higher pitch than usual while he avoids all eye contact with both of his friends. 

"Harry," Naila starts slowly. "You told Louis, right?"

"Told him what?" Harry plays dumb to avoid the question. 

"You haven't told him?" Naila yells, standing up. 

"What am I supposed to say?" Harry groans, dragging his hands down his face. "'By the way, Louis, the sperm donor that you chose before we started dating was my sperm that I donated the same day you got inseminated, apparently.'"

Naila looks at Harry like he's just grown a second head. "Yes!" she exclaims. "That's exactly what you say!"

"I can't just blurt that out. Niall, have my back here," Harry pleads. 

Niall shakes his head. "You have to tell him that the baby's yours."

"You don't have to take Naila's side just because you're in love with her, okay, mate?" Harry says without realizing that he just outed his friend. 

He sees Niall's eyes widen and his body stiffen. 

"Harry, this isn't something that you keep from someone. Louis deserves to know that you're the father of his-" Naila starts, pausing abruptly. "Wait, what?" She turns to face Niall for a moment, before glancing back at Harry. 

"Nothing," Harry says quickly, giving Niall a frantic look and glancing back and forth between the pair. 

Niall tries to act nonchalant but shrinks into himself more on the couch instead, biting the nail on his thumb and looking anywhere but at the two standing in front of him. He can feel how red his cheeks must be, and Niall wants to die a little bit. 

Naila turns her body towards Niall again. "Niall, what's he talking about?" she asks, her voice much softer than when she was scolding Harry.

Niall tries to make himself smaller as he pushes himself even further into the corner of the couch, folding his arms closer to his body and making sporadic eye contact with the girl in front of him. The nail on his thumb is slowly being shortened to the nub, and he gives Naila a sheepish smile. 

"Oh," he hears Naila breathe from in front of him, and he squeezes his eyes shut, wishing he were literally anywhere else. 

After a few seconds of awkward silence that felt like hours to the poor Irish boy, he abruptly stands up from his place on the couch. "I gotta go," he mumbles, walking towards the front door without looking at either of the others. 

"Niall-" Harry starts, but he's interrupted by the door slamming. He sighs and puts a hand over his eyes. "I'm a terrible friend," he mutters. 

"Niall likes me?" Naila asks, turning back to face Harry. 

Harry just rolls his eyes. He figures the cat's already out of the bag, so. "Try 'has been in love with you for 3 years.'"

"Really?" she asks, and Harry sees the smile that appears before she covers it with her hand. "Well," she coughs. "What were we talking about?"

"Nothing, I'll figure it out," he sighs. "And you obviously have feelings for Niall too, so you should probably say something before he tries to run away from his problems like he just did."

"My parents would kill me if I brought home a white boy," Naila laughs. 

"Naila, your parents love Niall. Hell, they invited him to the party you guys had for Eid," Harry reasons. "Do you have feelings for him?"

"I mean, it's just," she sighs. "Yeah," she admits, plopping herself down on the couch. 

"Then please, for the love of god, put the boy out of his misery, because he's probably on his way to sleep at my flat, and as much as I love him, I can't deal with a mopey Niall right now," Harry chuckles. 

She just gives Harry a weak smile and stays quiet. 

Harry feels his phone buzz from his back pocket a few minutes later, so he slips it out and unlocks it quickly to see a text from the man who's apparently carrying his child without his knowledge. 

**From Louis:**

_H, your friend Niall just showed up at my flat pls help me_  

**From Louis:**

_omg u dick why would u blurt that out to Naila u know Niall wasn't ready_

**From Louis:**  

_u can't do that to the poor boy he needs to be protected at all costs_  

**From Louis:**

_HARRY HE'S CRYING HELpME_

Harry groans and locks his phone again, slightly worried that Niall will let it slip that Louis's carrying Harry's son.

"I was wrong, Niall went to Louis's, and I now have to go save my boyfriend," Harry laughs. "Come with me."

Naila looks like she's having a mental war with herself for a minute before she bites her lip. "I'll go with you if you swear you'll tell Louis what's going on soon."

"Deal," Harry sighs, motioning for her to follow him out to his car. 

Harry knows he has to tell Louis, and he knows that it'll most likely end up alright. It's just the actual 'telling him' part that scares him. What if Louis's disappointed by the news? What if he doesn't  _want_  Harry to be the donor? What if Louis dumps him for not telling him as soon as he found out? Harry's not ready to lose Louis. Especially now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey, guysssss 
> 
> I'm home alone until Monday so there will probably be quite a few updates because I'm incredibly bored, and I'm getting excited about this fic again lmaooo
> 
> Also I LOVE Niall and Naila so much, and I was starting to have withdrawals, so here's this thing! (btw I didn't realize how similar their names were until after I posted the fic lol)
> 
> Q: How do you feel about Niall and Naila?? Is there anything you want to see in this fic in the future??


	27. Twenty-Seven

Harry knows he's been acting strange. He knows Louis can tell he's treating him differently. He just can't help it. 

As shitty as this may sound, it was different before Harry knew that Louis's son was also his son, by some force of nature. Before he knew, the boy in Louis's tummy was just another baby being brought into the world, but now it's Harry's baby. Harry's and Louis's baby. 

Before, Harry would have totally punched someone for Louis if need be, but now, Harry swears he would take a bullet for him. This whole situation makes him see Louis in a whole new light. 

Before, Louis was his boyfriend. His pregnant boyfriend. His pregnant boyfriend that he cared for way too deeply for only having dated a few months. 

Now, Louis's not only his boyfriend, but the father of his child. Sometimes he really believes he's his soulmate as well, but he doesn't admit that to himself a lot, because it's still fairly early in the pair's relationship. 

"Harry, I'm 6 months pregnant, not dying. I can get out of bed," Louis laughs with still-tired eyes as Harry walks into his bedroom with breakfast in bed. 

"Can I not treat my beautiful boyfriend to some breakfast?" Harry grins that beautiful grin that Louis adores. 

"Fine," Louis sighs with a smile, sitting up and taking the tray of food from Harry. He giggles at the single flower Harry's placed in a water glass. "Where's your food?"

Harry shrugs. "I had some cereal while I was making yours."

"Harry," Louis scolds. "Here, take half of mine," he says, beginning to split the eggs in half. 

Harry reaches up to gently stop Louis's hand while shaking his head. "You're not just feeding yourself, you need it for the baby."

Louis scoffs. "Harry, no one needs this much bloody food in the morning," he says, motioning to the 2 sunny side eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 sausage links, a piece of toast, and a small pile of roasted potatoes.

"I'm just making sure our-er, i mean, your son gets enough breakfast as well, Louis. He's a growing boy," Harry smiles, trying to play off his incredibly obvious fuck up. 

Harry sees Louis's eyes crinkling fondly, and he knows he wasn't as discreet as he tried to be. 

"What did you say?" Louis laughs, stabbing a potato with his fork. 

"I said that I'm just looking out for your son," Harry rephrases. 

"Mm, no. I don't think you said 'your,'" Louis teases. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry replies, his acting skills failing him completely. 

"You said 'our son,'" Louis smiles, raising his eyebrows quickly as he puts a potato wedge in his mouth. 

"Alright, that's quite enough, eat your breakfast," Harry says, feeling his face go red. 

"Don't you mean 'our' breakfast?" he laughs. 

"I'm going downstairs now," Harry chuckles, standing up from his place on the bed. 

Louis catches his hand as he turns and pulls him back towards him slightly to peck him on the lips. He looks into his eyes as Harry bends over him and flashes him a smile. "I think it's cute that you kind of think of him as yours too," Louis grins. 

Harry's lips form into a tight, awkward smiles and all he can think is ' _you have no idea,_ ' but he just says, "Yeah, well."

Louis gives him another small peck and releases his hand. "I'll meet you downstairs in a moment, I just need to get put some clothes on quickly."

Harry nods, straightening his back out and turning on his heels to head out the door. He takes a deep breath as he walks through the hallway. He really should tell Louis. 

///

"Harry, if you do one more thing for me, I'm going to actually scream in the middle of this store," Louis says, annoyed at the fact that Harry won't let him even pick up a box of cereal from the top shelf. He can reach it. Really, he can.

"Fine," Harry chuckles, placing the cereal box back on the shelf. "You get it," he continues, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I will," Louis mumbles, reaching for the same box that Harry put up. He grips the shelf even with his chest and pushes himself up onto the tips of his toes, but even then, his fingertips barely graze the bottom of the cardboard box. After about 30 seconds of Harry watching Louis embarrass himself, Louis huffs and grabs a cereal from the shelf below the top one and quickly shoves it in the cart. Harry raises his eyebrows at Louis's choice and presses his lips together. "I don't even like that other one," he grumbles.

"Lou, the one on the top is your favorite cereal," Harry laughs.

"Don't patronize me," Louis quips, tugging his t-shirt down to cover his growing belly.

Harry just smiles and pecks his boyfriend on the cheek with one hand on his back and the other on his bump.

"Fucking fags," a mumbling voice comes from behind them.

Both of their heads quickly turn towards the sound of the voice to see the back of a man's head as he goes into the next aisle. 

"Hey-" Harry starts, his voice gruff and his eyes full of anger as he steps in the direction that the man went.

"Harry, don't," Louis interrupts, grabbing his arm and pulling him back towards him. "It's not worth it," he sighs.

"But he-"

"is an asshole and will eventually get what's coming to him, but nothing you say or do to him is going to fix whatever's wrong with his life that he feels the need to take it out on the people around him. Just let it go, and let's get the rest of our damn groceries, alright?" Louis says with a defeated laugh. 

"Fine," Harry rolls his eyes. "You're still short, y'know," he says as they continue down the aisles.

"I'm 5'9," Louis says with squinted eyes.

"Debatable," Harry shrugs, taking the shopping cart from Louis's hands.

///

 The next morning, Harry walks back into his flat with sweat dripping down his bare chest, a headband keeping his hair out of his face as he wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. He takes his headphones out of his ear and checks the fitbit app on his phone, and, yes, he has a fitbit. He only wears it on his morning jogs though, because he feels that it looks silly with most of his outfits, and his pink band doesn't go with much.

He sees he ran 4 miles and is only moderately impressed with himself, because he did 6 miles last week, but he figures it's good enough since there's a cute boy in his flat. 

Speaking of the cute boy on Harry's mind, the moment he takes his headphones out of his ears, he hears the familiar sound of Louis's favorite Spotify playlist that he plays when he's doing literally anything. 'Go Let It Out' by Oasis is the song that's running through his ears at the moment.

When he turns the corner he can see his lovely Louis in the kitchen swaying his hips and bopping his head to the beat of the music as he sings along happily. Harry suddenly smells what seems to be burning pancakes, and all Harry can think of is the time that Louis set his kitchen on fire just by making tea.

He observes Louis from the corner with a smile on his face as the smaller boy continues to dance like nobody's watching, which is obviously inaccurate (not that Louis's aware of that fact). He watches as the shirtless boy protects his belly with one hand while he flips a burnt pancake with the other. 

His soft, smooth voice fills Harry's ears as he sings the last lyrics of the song.

The vision of Louis singing and dancing in his underwear while he cooks the pair breakfast is more cliche than Harry ever imagined his life being, but suddenly he feels as though there's 50 pounds pressing against his chest, and his stomach feels like there are a million butterflies ramming themselves against every wall of his abdomen, and yet, Harry doesn't think that he's ever been so happy in his life.

It's in that moment that Harry realizes that he is 100% irrevocably, unconditionally, and inescapably in love with Louis Tomlinson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Honestly, fucking finally. I wrote this, and I still can't believe how long it took him to realize that he's loved Louis since before he even fucking knew him skfifduhsfsdf DONT GET ME STARTED 
> 
> Anyways !
> 
> This entire chapter was just a lead up to Harry realizing what's been in front of him for months.
> 
> For those of you who like when I bring Niall and Naila into the mix, they'll be back sooner or later! 
> 
> Q: Is there anything you want to see in this fic in the future? How do you think Harry's going to tell Louis?? (honestly is he ever going to tell him anything bc this bitch needs to get his shit together) ((why am i annoyed with my own character))
> 
> p.s. y'all better watch out for the next chapter bc we've all been waiting for what happens for-fucking-EVER. man I'm excited LOVE YALL THANKS FOR READING BE SURE TO COMMENT AND THINGS ILYA (I LOVE READING FEEDBACK LMAO)


	28. Twenty-Eight

“Lou, do you think it would be alright if I, um,” Harry starts nervously. “If I came to the appointment with you?” he asks, leaning against the door frame of Louis’s bathroom.

Louis pauses in the middle of perfecting his fringe and looks over at Harry with a smile. “You want to go to my appointment with me?” he giggles. Harry just shrugs in reply. “It’ll be boring,” he warns.

“That’s okay,” Harry insists, following Louis as he pulls his favorite tee of Harry’s over his head, the soft fabric still loose against Louis’s round tummy. “I want to be, like, supportive, and stuff,” Harry breathes awkwardly.

“You’re already extremely supportive, love, but of course you can come,” Louis smiles, picking his keys up from the floor and immediately tossing them towards Harry, causing him to stumble back and drop the keys back onto the floor. “Smooth,” Louis teases.

“I wasn’t prepared for that,” Harry scolds his boyfriend, bending over to retrieve the keys. 

“You’re driving,” is all Louis replies as he begins to make his way out of the flat. “C’mon now, love, we’re going to be late!” he calls back to Harry as he opens the front door.

Harry rolls his eyes and follows behind him, locking the door behind them like Louis always forgets to do and stepping into Louis’s car. 

///

They make their way into the hospital where Louis’s appointment is taking place only 5 minutes late (a new record for Louis). It only takes a few minutes of waiting after checking in for Louis’s name to be called back. They’re led down a long hallway, and Harry makes a note that it seems to be quite a happy and colorful place for a hospital, but he assumes that’s because they’re in the prenatal and children's wing of the establishment. 

A nurse leads them into Room 28 and does all of the regular things that happen to patients during a doctor’s visit. She weighs Louis, checks his blood pressure, and listens to his heart, and so on and so forth. She then kindly tells them that the doctor will be by in a few minutes before exiting quietly. She makes sure to leave Louis a hospital gown to change into, because he’s due for an exam this visit. 

Louis takes his time changing, because he’s done this before, and he knows it’ll be a hot minute before his doctor actually comes in because she’s busy. 

After about 10 minutes of sitting and waiting, Harry feels a pressure in his abdomen and recognizes the feeling. “I’m actually going to go have a wee before she gets here,” he says to Louis, standing up. 

Louis nods. “Third door on your left,” he says, motioning out of the room. Harry nods and follows Louis’s finger. 

A few minutes later, Louis hears a knock on the door and calls a small “Come in!”

“Hello, Louis,” his doctor smiles widely as she walks in, closing the door behind her. She holds her hand out for Louis to shake which Louis accepts politely.

“Hello,” he responds.

“So how have you been feeling since our last visit, Louis?”

“Well, my back’s been killing me, I pee every 10 minutes, it feels like, I can’t walk right because my feet are swollen, and the baby likes to kick me while I’m sleeping,” Louis laughs.

“All normal things,” the doctor assures Louis with a smile. “Speaking of pee, I’m going to need to collect a urine sample from you today just to check out your protein and sugar levels to make sure everything’s all right with that."

“Sounds good,” Louis says, taking the familiar cup from the doctor’s hands. “Harry just went in there a couple of minutes ago, so I’ll just wait for him to get back then."

Louis sees the doctor’s eyebrows furrow in confusion at the mention of Harry. “Harry?” she asks. “You mean the Harry that-“

The doctor’s cut off by the door opening to reveal the lanky boy re-entering the room. 

“That Harry,” Louis smiles, motioning to his boyfriend. Harry gives the doctor an awkward wave.

“Hello,” he says politely, closing the door behind him and reclaiming his seat in the corner of the small room.

“Oh!” the doctor exclaims with excitement, he hands clapping together. “When did you two meet?” 

“Actually, the day I found out I was pregnant,” Louis laughs, confused as to why his doctor wants to know about his love life, but he brushes it off because he likes her. 

“Sorry to intrude, but this just doesn’t happen very often, you know?” she explains further, making Louis’s eyebrows furrow in slight offense.

“What doesn’t happen very often?” he asks slowly, thinking she’s about to make some snide comment about getting into a relationship while pregnant. 

“Usually donors and recipients don’t meet, and if they do it usually happens years after the child is born, because they want to know who they came from,” the doctor says in awe, and Harry immediately jumps up from his seat behind Louis with wide eyes.

“Wait-“ Louis starts, shaking his head in confusion. “What? Harry’s not-what?”

“You know, since Harry’s your donor. I’ve never had a donor come to an appointment with one of their recipients before, is all,” she shrugs. 

“What do you mean that Harry’s my donor?” Louis says so quickly, he thinks his tongue might fall out of his mouth. 

Harry just stays silent behind Louis with wide eyes and a dry mouth as he imagines every possible outcome of this situation. 

“Did you not know that Mr. Styles was your donor?” the doctor asks. “The donor information sheets come with a name and a picture, Louis.”

“I asked not to know the name or see the picture, because I didn’t want to know who he was or be influenced by their looks, but what do you mean that Harry’s my donor?” Louis asks again, almost seeming to be in tears, and Harry is about to throw up again. 

“Yes, Harry’s your donor. I’m sorry if you didn’t realize,” the doctor says with wide eyes. Louis looks frantically back at Harry and Harry can see the tears building in his eyes. “I’m going to give you two a few minutes to process this,” the doctor says awkwardly, stepping out of the room.

“Did you know about this?” Louis says, giving Harry the most betrayed look he thinks he’s ever seen.

_Tell him. Tell him. Tell him._

“No,” Harry blurts out before he can stop himself. “I had no idea,” he continues as if his lips have a mind of their own. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Louis says facing Harry, but talking more towards himself. “Why am I crying?” he laughs nervously, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “It’s not like this is a bad thing, right?” Louis says, speaking to Harry again. Harry just shakes his head, placing his hand on Louis’s lower back to comfort him. “Oh god, are you going to leave me now?” he breathes.

Harry’s face scrunches up in confusion and he shakes his head profusely at that. “No,” he answers immediately. “No, Louis, I would never,” he continues, moving to sit down next to Louis on the hospital bed, wrapping his arm around Louis’s waist and bringing him closer to his body. “Of course I’m not going to leave you, especially not now.”

“When the hell did you donate? And why didn’t you tell me you did?” Louis asks, wanting answers.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to have chosen my sperm out of the thousands and thousands you could have picked instead, so it wasn’t really at the top of my list of things to warn you about,” Harry says truthfully with a laugh.

“I guess,” Louis mumbles. He sighs before looking up at Harry next to him and smiling at him. “It appears that we’re both going to be parents then,” he says, and his smile quickly drops once he finishes. “If you- I mean, if you want to be. I don’t want to pressure you-“

Harry interrupts him with a kiss that Louis immediately melts into, and pulls himself away a few moments later, resting his forehead against his boyfriends. “I was already planning on it, love,” he admits, not disclosing the full reason.

“You were?” Louis asks, his doe eyes making a full appearance. 

“Of course,” he nods. “I lo-“

He’s interrupted when the doctor knocks on the door again, making Harry sigh and look over to her as she walks in.

‘ _Thanks for ruining the moment, Doc,_ ’ he thinks to himself, giving her a fake smile.

“I would have given you more time, but I have other appointments today, and we have a few things we need to do,” she apologizes, and they both nod at her.

Louis provides a urine sample like he was told to, the doctor gives him his exam and he changes back into his regular clothes, and Harry is in complete awe when the time for the ultrasound comes.

Harry is right next to Louis, holding his hand as he lays on the bed with his shirt pulled up to reveal his tummy. There’s cold liquid all over Louis and a stick being pushed around on his stomach, but Harry is able to actually  _see_  his child moving around in his boyfriend for the first time and he’s able to hear his son’s heartbeat in  _real time_ , and Harry may or may not be tearing up.

“This is amazing,” he says under his breath just loud enough for Louis to hear him as the doctor explains to both of them where all of the baby’s extremities are.

“Isn’t it?” Louis says back. Harry tears his eyes away from the screen to look into his beautiful boyfriends eyes.

“I hope he has your eyes,” Harry blurts, completely ignoring the presence of the doctor.

Louis grins. “Mine couldn’t ever compare to yours, love." 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm annoyed with Harry again someone help
> 
> he lied AGAIN and told louis that he didn't know. annoying smh. the next chapter's going to be more of a filler, but then we get to the REAL drama after that, so stay tuned, y'all!
> 
> ik I updated like yesterday, but i already had this written so here we are lmao
> 
> Q: how do you think that Louis's going to react when he finds out that Harry knew before he did and didn't tell him?
> 
> thanks for readings guyssssss!! be sure to leave me some hella feedbackkkkkk love you guyssss


	29. Twenty-Nine

Harry was already happy about his and Louis's situation, but now that Louis knows too, he's finally gotten the opportunity to be absolutely ecstatic that he's going to be a father. He's wanted kids since he can remember, and while he wasn't expecting any so soon, he can't imagine his life any other way anymore.

Barely 6 months ago, Harry thought that the next few years of his life would be drab while he dives head first into the workforce and tries to figure his life out, but the firm he works at is probably one of the most progressive in London somehow, and they don't even mind if he shows his tattoos or wears t-shirts to work, because they and (most of) their clients understand, at least to a certain extent, that tattoos or any other modification to one's appearance, whether permanent or not, don't have any effect on one's ability to do a job. (Except gauges that you can fit entire body parts through, because those freak his boss out.) On top of Harry loving his job and most of the people he works with (there's one dick there that Harry can't stand, but he just ignores him for the most part), he's suddenly got the love of his life by his side who's now in his third trimester of pregnancy with his son, and Harry's got everything he thinks he could ever want.

Except a dog. He wants a dog. He'll save that conversation for after the baby's been born, though. Much after. He'll stick to playing with Liam's dog every now and then until the time comes. 

Louis and Harry have spent the past week preparing the nursery at Louis's flat for when the baby comes in just a few short weeks. Louis will be at full term in about 10 weeks, now. The nursery ended up being nautical themed, and both Harry and Louis are in love with how everything turned out. 

They may or may not have added some aspects of their tattoos, because they just go together so nicely. There are a couple of picture frames near the bookshelf, one with a ship and a compass, and another with a rope and anchor. They secretly love how extra they are.

"This says that you should pack a dressing gown so that you'll be comfortable, but also because you'll need to breastfeed quite often," Harry says as he scrolls through Pinterest to help Louis pack his bag that he'll take with him to the hospital whenever he goes into labor.

"Why are all of these geared towards women?" Louis groans. 

"How is this geared towards women? You're telling me that you _don't_ want a comfy dressing gown to be in after you give birth?"

Louis pauses for a moment. "Fine, but put that on the list of things I need to buy."

"You don't have a dressing gown?" Harry says, his eyebrows raising.

"No," Louis scoffs. "Who bloody owns a dressing gown?"

"I do."

"Well, you're the only one."

"I'll lend you mine, then," Harry chuckles. "Do you want the cotton one or the satin one?"

"You have _two_?"

"Sometimes I want to feel sexy after I have a shower, Louis."

Louis rolls his eyes. "Just bring both."

///

"What about Eugene?" Harry suggests as him and Louis lay on Louis's bed facing opposite directions. The name makes Louis scrunch his nose up at the thought. 

"That reminds me of that Rapunzel movie too much. Veto," he chuckles. "What about Logan?"

"You mean Wolverine? Next," Harry vetoes. "Fionn? With an 'O' and two 'N's."

"Harry, just because you liked that Fionn Whitehead bloke in that war movie, doesn't mean that we're naming our son after him."

"He was a good actor, and he was cute," Harry defends his choice. "It's good juju."

"Why aren't there any names that don't remind us of something?" Louis groans, ignoring his boyfriend.

"We'll find one we love, sweetheart, don't worry," Harry smiles, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Louis. 

"Whenever you call me sweetheart, it makes me feel like I'm the mum on a sitcom from the 50's," Louis chuckles, glancing over at Harry. 

"Maybe I call you sweetheart because I'm the mum on a sitcom from the 50's," Harry retaliates, making Louis giggle. 

"That's probably it," he says. 

Harry smiles over at his boyfriend for a few moments before he speaks again. "Hey, can I show you something?"

Louis looks up at him. "Of course."

Harry grins and stands up, offering Louis his hands. "Follow me."

Louis takes his hands, and Harry pulls him up, because Louis's tummy is too big for him to get up on his own most of the time now. 

Once Louis's on his feet, Harry leads him by his hand out of Louis's flat and into Harry's car. "Where are we going?" Louis asks as he buckles his seat belt. 

"I have a surprise back at my flat," Harry smiles, beginning to drive off. 

"What is it?" Louis urges impatiently. 

"You'll see in like 2 minutes, Lou. Patience is a virtue," he chuckles. 

Louis huffs and folds his arms, directing his gaze to his window. 

They arrive to Harry's flat a couple of minutes later, and Harry helps Louis out of the car. 

"I can do some things on me own, y'know," Louis says after Harry shuts his car door. 

Harry just shrugs and walks to his front door, opening it as Louis follows him inside.  

"Okay, close your eyes," Harry says with a grin as he bounces up and down slightly in excitement. 

Louis chuckles fondly and does as he says. He feels Harry grabs his hands and lead him to the foot of the stairs that lead up to his lofted bedroom. Louis opens his eyes in confusion and Harry scolds him. 

"No peaking!" he whines. "I won't let you fall down, just trust me here."

Louis sighs and closes his eyes again as Harry begins to slowly help him walk blindly up the stairs. 

They get to the top, and Louis can feel Harry bouncing next to him again. "Okay, open," he says. 

Louis does as he says, and his eyes immediately adjust to Harry's newly arranged bedroom with a new addition. 

In the back right corner of his bedroom, there is now a beautiful light brown wooden crib with a blue blanket with multicolored whales on it hanging over the railing and white and blue sheets on the tiny mattress. There was a baby changing station directly next to the crib that doubled as a small dresser and nautical wall decals over the crib. Hanging over where the baby would sleep was a mobile with little ships and mermaids and starfish hanging from it. 

"So that you two could sleep here every once in awhile," Harry says after a minute or so. 

Louis looks over to see Harry nervously biting his lip with hopeful eyes. 

"Harry, this is so sweet," Louis smiles, causing a grin to form on Harry's lips. "You really want to be involved, don't you?"

"Of course, Lou. More than anything," he says honestly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ok y'all i went to go see Dunkirk and it was SO GOOD. HARRY'S SUCH A GOOD ACTOR AND FIONN MAKES MY HEART MELT EVERY TIME I LOOK AT HIM
> 
> ALSO BTY IS SUCH A GOOD SONG AND LOUIS AND BEBE ARE SO CUTE IN THE MUSIC VIDEO AND IM SO PROUD OF MY SONS
> 
> anyways
> 
> how did you like the chapter??? it's another filler, ik, but the next chapter is so fucking dramatic honestly, like it's kind of overboard, but it's what's happening, so there's nothing I can do at this point. 
> 
> The next chapter makes me so sad though :(
> 
> Q: Any guesses for what happens in the next chapter?? what did you think about the names they suggested?? lmaooooo
> 
> thanks so much for reading, guys! don't forget to leave me some feedback!


	30. Thirty

"Louis, do you want to go on a date on Thursday?" Harry asks as they complete the finishing touches of the nursery in Louis's flat. 

"Why Thursday?" Louis laughs, hanging a picture of a ship next to the bookshelf that Harry built for the baby. Their baby. 

"It's our 6 month anniversary," Harry pouts, only slightly offended that Louis forgot. 

"From our first date or when you asked me to be your boyfriend?" 

"From when we became boyfriends," Harry sighs. 

"I'd love to go on a date on Thursday, love," Louis smiles. 

Harry can hardly wait. 

///

Harry's telling Louis that he loves him tonight. 

He wants to throw up. 

6 whole months of dating, and Harry is finally telling Louis that he loves him. Half a year. 

It's a quarter past 6 when Harry hears his front door swing open and shut shortly after, dainty footsteps following the sound up the stairs to Harry's bedroom.

"Hey, love," Louis says as he makes it to the top of the stairs, holding the bottom of his round belly as he catches his breath.

"Lou," Harry whines, still shirtless as he hasn't had time to put his button up on yet. His black and white floral slacks are already snugly surrounding his legs. "I was going to pick you up. It was going to be a proper date."

"What's the big deal, Curly?" Louis laughs, plopping himself down onto Harry's bed. He straightens out his maroon sweater with barely visible stripes and sleeves that are much too long for his small arms and crosses his black skinny jean clad legs over each other, bouncing his feet as he does so.

"It's our 6 month anniversary, and I just want everything to be perfect," Harry sighs, stepping into his bathroom that's visible from his bed and beginning to blow dry some of his hair back. 

"It'll be perfect even if you don't pick me up, Haz," Louis reassures Harry, and the younger boy just nods. 

"You're right," he mumbles before smiling over at the pregnant boy. "Everything will always be perfect when I'm with you."

Harry swears Louis's blush would be visible from a mile away, but he doesn't say anything about it because Louis likes to pretend that Harry's comments don't phase him, and Harry thinks it's adorable. 

"Hurry up now, Curly. We don't want to be late," Louis says, ignoring Harry's comment. 

"The reservation isn't until 7:30," Harry states with furrowed eyebrows. 

"Yeah, but you need time to fix your hair again after we make out," Louis says cheekily, and Harry rolls his eyes, the dimples in his cheeks becoming visible. 

"You're wrinkling your shirt," Harry says, looking at Louis as he buries himself deeper under the covers on Harry's bed. 

"I'd rather you be the one to wrinkle it, but you're over there, and your flat is fooking freezing, so here I am. Miserable," Louis replies, feigning drama as he places the back of his hand to his forehead, tilting his head back slightly. 

"Such a drama queen," Harry giggles with his toothbrush between his lips as he scrubs his teeth clean. He spits and rinses his mouth out a few moments later, plopping the toothbrush back into the rose gold cup on the counter. "I'm going to go get dressed downstairs, and you're going to wait here so that I can come up here and pick you up for our date, alright?"

"That's extra, but I'll stay put, I guess," Louis laughs. 

"You love when I'm extra," is all Harry replies before quickly making his way down the stairs. 

Louis rolls his eyes and takes his phone out of his pocket, momentarily checking twitter and instagram before huffing at a picture of one of his high school friend's newborn babies, closing his phone again and wishing his baby was here already. 

"Fooking freezing," Louis mumbles to himself, looking around for something of Harry's to put on while he waits. He sees a multicolored sweater on the chair next to Harry's bed and quickly reaches for it, slipping it off the chair and accidentally knocking something else off with a  _thump_. 

Louis furrows his eyebrows and sets the sweater down beside him on the bed before carefully reaching down with one hand and gripping his tummy with the other. He feels around for a moment before his hand finally lands on cold leather. A book of some sort. 

He brings it in front of him and examines it for a moment, a smile appearing on his face shortly after. 

"Harry's poems," he exclaims to himself giddily. He thinks back on the deal he made with Harry, saying that if he found his poetry, he was allowed to read it. 

He immediately opens the book to a random page and grins as he begins to read. 

His smile falters when he realizes that this isn't a book full of poetry, but it's what seems to be something more similar to a diary. He would have immediately closed it and put it back where he found it if he hadn't seen his name. 

_I want to throw up??? Literally what the fuck. Somehow, Louis's baby is my baby ??? I found my donor information sheet in his paperwork for his doctor, so that means that Louis used my sperm to make a baby, which means it's technically mine too, right? What kind of odds are those? Out of thousands and thousands of donors, he picks_ my _sperm? And now we're dating? What are the bloody chances?_

The diary entry is dated 2 weeks before Louis found out. 

Louis didn't make it to the part of the entry where Harry talked about how he was actually extremely happy about the situation. Nor the part where he talked about how he thought he loved Louis. 

Louis slams the book shut and throws it back onto the chair next to Harry's bed. He tosses the sweater back over it and gets up as quickly as his protruding belly allows, huffing quietly as it's quite hard for him to stand on his own now since he's 30 weeks along. 

He can't believe the nerve of Harry. He can't believe that Harry kept this from him. Does he not actually want to be involved? Was tonight just a huge charade to let Louis down easily? Why didn't he tell Louis the second he found out? 

"This is absolute  _bullshit_ ," he mumbles to himself, wiping the tears that are making their way down his red cheeks with the side of his wrist. He tries to take deep breaths, but he's just so confused. 

If Harry doesn't want to be involved, then Louis's not going to force him, but the fact that he put his through all this just to break his heart is too much for the pregnant boy. Neither him nor the baby need this kind of stress. They don't need Harry either. They can do this on their own. 

' _It was too good to be true anyways_ ,' Louis thinks to himself as he tries to stop more tears that are rolling down his face. 

He composes himself as much as he possibly can (which isn't very much: his cheeks are blotchy and his eyes are wet and his nose is running and his hair is fucked). Wiping his eyes once again, he steps down the stairs as quickly as he can, and Harry notices him when he gets to the last few steps. 

"Love," Harry whines again, and Louis flinches at the nickname, but Harry seems to be too frantic to notice. "You're supposed to wait up there so I can pick you up."

His shirt is still unbuttoned, and Louis tries his best to ignore the flutter in his chest that he gets every time he's near Harry. 

"Don't call me that," Louis almost hisses as he stops on the bottom step. 

The drastic change of the tone of Louis's voice gets Harry's full attention, and he immediately notices the wet streaks on Louis's cheeks. "What? Louis, what's wrong?" he asks, coming closer to his boyfriend and raising his hand to place on Louis's arm. 

"Don't touch me!" Louis cries, quickly stumbling away from Harry's fingers and wiping his eyes again. 

"Baby, what happened?" Harry asks, his hand drooping slowly back to his side. His face is full of hurt, but Louis is 100% sure that he's full of shit. 

"Stop with the pet names," Louis says sternly with clenched teeth, and Harry grimaces at his tone. 

"What did I do? Why are you angry with me?" Harry says, taking a step towards Louis, but Louis takes a step back, causing Harry to stop in his tracks. 

Louis looks into his eyes to see pain, but he knows it's just the pain of suddenly being thrust into the world of parenthood. He knows just how to fix that. "I never want to see you again," Louis says in almost a whisper. 

Harry's eyes seem to shoot out of their sockets at that. 

' _Probably in relief,_ ' is what Louis thinks. 

"What are you going on about? Louis, what the hell is going on?" he asks frantically, trying to get closer to Louis again. 

"We're over! It's done!" Louis yells, his arms moving with emotion. "You don't have to worry about the baby fucking up your life, alright? You're free. Congratulations."

"Louis, what the fuck are you talking about?" Harry yells back, getting close enough to Louis to wrap his hand around his arm loosely to try and get him to calm down. 

"Get off!" Louis shrieks, trying to rip his arm away from Harry's grip. 

"Louis, stop!" Harry yells back, almost in hysterics as he tries to get Louis to calm down and explain what the fuck is going on. 

"No! It's over, and you won't be anywhere near the baby! You're getting everything you want and nothing you don't," Louis spits the last words at Harry, and Harry can feel his heart shattering into a million pieces. 

"Louis, that's not what I want!" Harry replies, and Louis just rolls his eyes and begins to waddle to the front door. "You can't just  _leave_  and threaten to not let me see  _my_  child!" Harry yells, following after him. 

Louis immediately stops and turns on his toes when he hears him. "He is  _not_  your child, Harry," Louis says sternly before making his way closer to the front door. 

Harry's eyebrows furrow as he begins following Louis again. "What are you talking about, Louis? You used  _my_  sperm to create him, and last time I checked, that makes him  _my_  child too!"

Louis stops once again, more abruptly this time, slowly getting closer to Harry with every word he speaks. "Harry Styles,  _you_  donated your sperm to a sperm bank, and  _you_  signed away all rights you would ever have to any children that would ever form with the help of your sperm.  _I_ chose your sperm based on a few pieces of paper that included no name and no picture, and  _I_ had no clue that I would ever meet the sperm donor I chose. If you had never known about this pregnancy, you would have had no rights to my son, and just because you know about him now, does  _not_  mean that you have any rights to him now, nor will you  _ever_  have  _anything_  to do with him!" When Louis finishes, he tries to ignore the tears currently rolling down Harry's cheeks. 

"Louis, I-I thought," he takes a breath, looking around frantically as if trying to find a solution. "Last week, we were trying to agree on a name," Harry's voice begins to crack, and Louis can tell that he's trying to keep himself from sobbing. "I don't understand."

"Last week, I thought you were someone you're not," Louis says before taking a deep breath. "I should go," he says. 

Harry whimpers as Louis turns towards the door. "Please," he begs. "I need you. Both of you."

Louis pauses momentarily with his jaw clenched, facing away from Harry, before opening the door to his flat. 

"Louis, please, I-" he's interrupted by the loud a loud slam as Louis leaves his flat, taking Harry's heart with him. "love you," he whispers, feeling everything and nothing all at once. 

Harry feels like his lungs are collapsing. He can't breathe no matter how hard he tries, and he can't move. His heart is beating so fast he feels as though it might rip out of his chest. The walls are closing in on him, he just knows it. He tries to run after Louis but he's frozen in place. He has no control over his muscles and barely any over his breaths. He can't speak to call after him, and he wants to cry. 

It takes way too long for Harry to regain control of his movements, and he has to force himself to his front door, but by the time he has the entrance open and is able to yell after the love of his life, he's nowhere in sight. 

"Louis?" he yells out once more, his eyes watering. 

He closes his door again, and slowly walks into the kitchen in complete shock only to see the bouquet of peonies that he had bought for Louis, because he loves peonies. 

He feels anger boil inside him momentarily before he rips the pink flowers out of their vase, knocking it over onto the floor so that it shatters as he slams the peonies into the wall, destroying them completely. 

Harry's in sheer hysterics after that, letting his tears flow freely until he falls asleep. He's not really sure how long it goes on, but he wakes up in the early morning hours of the next day, sees the most beautiful sunrise he's ever seen outside of his window, and begins sobbing uncontrollably once he realizes that Louis isn't here to watch the sunrise with him. 

When he wakes up again, the sun is high in the sky. He calls in sick to work, and his voice is so hoarse from crying, he doesn't even need to feign a sick voice.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey, y'all! Sorry it took so long for me to update!!! I was on an anniversary trip w my bf :)))
> 
> Soooooo that happened... yikes ! Maybe Harry should have told him sooner and not written it in a fuckin' diary -_-
> 
> And Harry didn't get to tell him that he loves him :(
> 
> Q: What did you guys think??


	31. Thirty-One

"Harry, c'mon," Niall says softly, shaking Harry awake. "It's almost 3 in the afternoon. You need to get out of bed, lad."

"No," Harry sniffles, turning away from Niall. "It's Saturday, I don't have to do anything."

"Do you want to talk about what happened yet?" Niall asks carefully. 

" _I_  don't even know what happened, Niall," Harry snaps harshly. "That's the point."

"Something had to have happened, Haz," he says quietly. 

His comment makes Harry jolt up so that he's sitting on his ass, facing Niall and revealing the dark,  _dark_  circles under Harry's eyes that are intensified by his blotchy red skin. " _Nothing_ happened!" Harry yells. "Absolutely  _nothing_  happened! Everything was fucking  _perfect_! I was getting ready for our date, he came downstairs, yelled at me, and told me that the baby isn't-,"Harry swallows as he tries to hold back the tears that are building in his eyes. "that the baby isn't  _mine,_ " his voice cracks at the thought. "and then he  _left_ ," he finishes quieter than he started. "Why did he leave?" he asks, the pitch of his voice raising as he brings his knees up to hide his face so that Niall doesn't see him cry. Again. 

"Mate," Niall says, pity filling his voice as he begins rubbing Harry's bare back to try and comfort him. 

"I was going to tell him that I-," Harry starts, his own whimper interrupting him. "that I love him," he sobs, revealing his tear-stained cheeks to Niall. 

"Harry, I heard about-" Naila says, walking into his room, but stopping herself when she sees the state of the poor boy. "Oh, Haz," she gasps, quickly dropping her keys and phone on the corner of Harry's bed, and tackling him in a hug, which he immediately returns, burying his face in her shoulder as he cries. The action causes her scarf to be tugged slightly down, which Niall swiftly fixes for her. "Thanks, Ni," she whispers to him, letting Harry squeeze the life out of her still. 

"No problem, sweetheart," he replies, and the pet name makes Harry whimper. 

"I used to call Louis 'sweetheart' and he would tell me that it made him feel like the mum from a 50's sitcom," Harry blubbers, his voice going higher with every word. 

Naila sends a silent glare over at her now-boyfriend, and Niall just throws his arms up in defense. "I didn't know," he whispers at her. 

"Shut up, Niall," she replies, squeezing Harry harder as he continues to dampen her scarf with his tears. 

///

Louis's admittedly doing just as terribly with the break-up. 

"Liam, why are you always in Wolverhampton when I need you?" he whimpers into the phone as he sits on the floor of the nursery that him and Harry decorated together. 

"I get homesick, Lou," Liam replies apologetically. "I'm coming back tomorrow, and you can yell and scream about how much of a twat Harry is when I get there. I won't even go to mine first, I'll come straight to you."

"Don't say his name," Louis mumbles, another tear escaping his eyes as he wipes it away angrily. 

How could Harry do this to him? He just can't believe that he would keep that he knew the baby was his from him. He can't believe he would lead him on to think that he wanted to be involved for so long. He's so incredibly angry at him, but so incredibly in love with him, and he hates himself for that. 

"Sorry, Lou," Liam says. 

"I can't even get off this damn floor by meself anymore, how am I supposed to raise a baby on me own?" Louis breathes. 

"Louis, you're going to be a terrific dad. Wait, why are you on the floor?"

"I'm in the nursery, and you-know-who bought the rocking chair, so I'm on the floor," Louis says matter-of-factly, sniffling. 

"But if you know that you can't get off the floor, why would you-"

"Liam, I miss him," Louis begins to blubber suddenly, burying his face in his free hand. 

"Have you talked to him since you left?" 

"No. He's called me, but I can't-" his body racks with sobs as he rocks himself back and forth, trying to catch his breath. "I can't talk to him right now. Or ever again, I can't."

"Okay, Lou. Okay. You're okay. You'll be okay," Liam says, noticing that Louis's starting to hyperventilate. "Take a deep breath, Lou."

Louis does as his friend says, closing his eyes as he breathes. 

"This whole situation is bullshit," Louis mumbles after a minute or two. 

"Complete bullshit," Liam agrees. "Will you be alright to tell me what happened tomorrow?"

"No, but I will anyways."

"Alright, Lou. Are you okay if I go? My mum's calling me down for dinner."

"Yeah, that's fine, Li," Louis sniffles. "Sorry for taking you away from your family for so long."

"Don't sweat it, Louis. Love you."

"Love you too, Li," Louis replies, his voice small. He hears the dial tone a few seconds later and sighs, tossing his phone onto the ground and wiping more tears off of his face as he tries to compose himself. 

He looks over at the crib behind him and scoots over, gripping it tightly and slowly pulling himself onto his feet. 

"At least I know it's sturdy," he mutters to himself after he's standing before he goes into his room to wallow in self pity in the comfort of his own bed. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ok so this was unbearably short, and I'm sorry for that, but it's been a hectic few days lmao
> 
> ANYWAYS THIS FIC IS ALMOST OVER CAN YOU BELIEVE IT
> 
> I ONLY HAVE 3 MORE CHAPTERS AND AN EPILOGUE PLANNED LIKE I'M ACTUALLY SCREAMING
> 
> I'm also going to try to finish this fic up by the 20th (or around there) bc I move into my dorm room on the 23rd!!!
> 
> I'll probably be able to finish it up beforehand, but y'know.
> 
> HEY BUT DID YOU CATCH THE (not so) SUBTLE HINT THAT NIALL AND NAILA GOT TOGETHER ?? I didn't dedicate a big part of this fic to that bc I mean it's not about them and it wouldn't have fit right to have a random chapter about the pair, but they're together!! yay!
> 
> SO I HAVE 2/3 OF THE FINAL CHAPTERS WRITTEN (i might not even include one of them tbh bc it's not that significant but idk what do you think???) AND THEN MOST OF THE EPILOGUE DONE, SO WE'RE ALMOST THERE GUYS


	32. Thirty-Two

On a Saturday several weeks since he has seen Louis, Harry wakes up alone in his flat for what feels like the millionth time. 

When he opens his eyes, he notices the pillow he's spooning and wishes Louis was the one wrapped up in his arms. Better yet, he wishes he was wrapped up in Louis's arms.

He tries to adjust himself and groans when he realizes that he's hard. He's not in the mood to fix himself, but he has to piss, and morning wood tends to make that quite difficult.

He plays with himself half-heartedly, thinking about how Louis's body curves and how his eyelashes look when they're pressed against his cheek. 

When he finishes, all he can think about is where Louis is right now and what he's doing. He checks his phone when he gets up to go to the toilet and wishes there was some sort of notification from the love of his life. He realizes it's only about 5:30 in the morning. Louis's still sleeping. 

He falls back to sleep shortly after he returns to his bed, lonely as ever.

///

When he wakes back up, the sun is shining through his window, and he can only curse at the light and shut his curtains. 

His hair is growing out again, and it is extremely oily, so he wraps a scarf around his head to keep it out of his face and goes into the kitchen for some breakfast. 

He opens his fridge and reaches for the carton full of eggs when he sees one of Niall's beers that he had left on the top shelf the last time he visited. 

He weighs his options, and, ultimately, it's a Saturday. He pops the cap off on the corner of his counter top and takes a large swig. 

He's drunk by noon. 

Maybe if he had told Louis that his baby was also Harry's baby, Louis would have had more time to process it than he did when his OB told him. Then again, maybe he would have just left sooner. 

There's no way Louis could have possibly found out that he knew before, Harry thinks, so that can't be why he was so angry. 

He just didn't want Harry to be the father. He didn't want to be with Harry. And that's that. 

"What a fucking loser," Harry mumbles to himself as he takes another swig of beer. He's referring to himself, obviously. 

///

It's a few weeks later when Harry sees Liam while out for his weekly grocery shop. 

"Liam," Harry greets quite happily, approaching the only good friend he has-or maybe, had, considering he's best friends with Louis and all-from his internship. 

"Harry," Liam smiles back, slapping his hand against Harry's shoulder in the friendliest way possible, of course. "How've you been, mate? Haven't seen you in forever."

"Yeah, I know, it's been a bit, hasn't it? I'm alright, thanks, you?" he replies politely. 

"I'm great, thanks. Got a raise last week," Liam says, giving himself a pat on the back. 

"Good on you, mate," Harry smiles. Now, for the question Harry really wants to ask. "And, um," he coughs. "How's-how's Lou- uh, Louis?" he asks awkwardly, making terrible eye contact in the process. 

Harry can't help but notice that Liam has Louis's most common cravings in his basket. Mac and cheese and chocolate fingers. Both things Liam would never buy for himself. 

Liam gives him a smile full of pity and pats his bicep again, this time as a silent way of saying sorry. "He's just fine," Liam says, sounding quite pained as he does. "Quite large, actually. 8 months now, I think," Liam smiles. 

"Yeah, tomorrow's 33 weeks," Harry says, half-mumbling to himself. "Anyways," he changes the subject as soon as the look of sympathy crosses Liam's face. "It's quite warm in here, mate, what's with the jacket?" Harry laughs, poking fun at Liam's need to have on a million layers at once. 

"I  _am_  suddenly feeling quite hot," Liam jokes, alluding to their awkward conversation. He unzips his jacket and Harry's heart drops. 

Liam's wearing his shirt. Harry's shirt. Harry's shirt that he gave to Louis. Harry's shirt that he gave to Louis because he loved it so much. Harry's shirt that he gave to Louis because he loved it so much and that Louis gave to Liam. Harry's shirt that he gave to Louis because he loved it so much and that Louis gave to Liam because Louis hates Harry. 

Harry wants to cry again, but he forces the tears back in and gives Liam the fakest smile he's ever given anyone. He knows Liam can tell it's forced. "Alright, well, I just," Harry stutters. "I need to get going," he mumbles inaudibly and begins to spin around on his heels. 

"Harry," Liam says, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder before he can turn completely. "I'm really sorry, um, about Lou. You really did make him happy."

Harry knows Liam's trying to console him, but that's just not what Harry wants or needs to hear. He wants to hear that they never would have worked, that Louis was miserable with him, that he couldn't have ever felt the same way Harry did. But Liam tells him that Harry made him happy, and nothing makes sense. 

"Just not enough," Harry replies, voice void of any emotion without making eye contact. 

He quickly moves so that Liam is no longer touching him and walks swiftly away before Liam can say anything else. He has no idea where his groceries have gone, but he doesn't have them, and he really just wants to get out of there, so he leaves empty handed. 

///

Liam knocks at Louis's door after grocery shopping for him while Louis soaks his feet to pamper himself and his swollen ankles. Louis yells for him to come in.

They say the usual hello's before Louis asks him how the grocery store was. 

"Speaking of that," Liam begins slightly nervously. "I, uh, ran into Harry at the shop," he tries to say nonchalantly. 

Louis freezes and doesn't look up from his spot on the couch. He tries to act like the mention of Harry doesn't phase him. "Oh yeah?" 

Liam nods and stays silent for a moment. Louis prays that the conversation is over. "He asked about you," Liam says, shattering Louis's hopes. 

"Liam, I don't want to hear about it," Louis says sternly, keeping his focus on the television in front of him. 

"He really misses you," Liam presses. 

"Liam-" Louis starts, turning around and becoming slightly annoyed. 

"I think you should at least call him and explain why you broke his heart. Doesn't he deserve that?" Liam interrupts, supporting his weight with his hands on Louis's counter top. 

"Liam, I don't-"

"He's a good person, Lou, and he thinks that he did something terrible to you," Liam sighs. 

Louis scoffs. "He did."

"Did he?" Liam pushes. "He somehow found out that you used his sperm, got scared, and didn't tell you. You didn't even want to know who the father was in the first place, so he was probably terrified of wrecking your relationship by telling you."

"He wrecked it anyways," Louis says as he manages to push himself up from his couch, grabbing his belly in the process. 

"Louis, you're the one who walked away." Liam shakes his head. 

"He pushed me out!" Louis exclaims, becoming more worked up than he needs to be. 

It's Liam's turn to scoff. "Louis, all that boy did was love you."

"He never loved me," Louis says coldly with his eyes squinted and arms folded across his round tummy. 

"Are you kidding me, Lou?" Liam asks incredulously. "He was so head over heels for you. He would have moved mountains for you. Still would, probably."

"Shut up, Liam," Louis seethes, his voice like ice. 

"He deserves an explanation," Liam finishes, his voice still soft.

"Thanks for the groceries. I'm going to my room. You can see yourself out." Louis rolls his eyes as he dries his feet and carefully pushes himself off of his couch, gripping his tummy with one hand and the couch with the other and waddles his way down the hall to his bedroom, shutting the door with a tad bit more force than usual. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ok so I wrote this like the day after Harry's album came out, and From the Dining Table 100% inspired this chapter bc what a fuckin' BOP
> 
> anyways, I'm still not sure whether there's going to be 1 or 2 more chapters bc I have the last one written already and I could just post it, or I could write one in-between the two but idk, it depends on how I feel.
> 
> I might just combine the 2 bc the one i'm thinking about writing is kind of irrelevant
> 
> idk we'll see !!
> 
> Q: how do you guys feel about this fic ending?? I'm kind of sad tbh :///
> 
> thanks for reading !!!


	33. Thirty-Three

It's Louis's 26th birthday the next time he hears something from Harry. Harry hasn't tried to call or text Louis since Liam said he saw him at the shop. Of course, Louis's glad that the incessant calls have finally stopped. Definitely happy. Really, he's happy about it. Honestly.

Of course, though, he arrives home from work (and yes, his boss really did make him work on Christmas Eve) only to be greeted by a large bouquet of flowers on his door step. The initial sight of the gorgeous white peonies make a smile break out onto Louis's face for the first time since he woke up and a text from his sister made him realize that he's still getting older, no matter how many deals he tries to make with the universe.

It takes him a moment or two to be able to bend over at the right angle to reach for the card that's sticking out of the top of the arrangement, but when he reads it, his grin quickly turns into a grimace.

_'Happy birthday, Lou (you're not old, shut up)._

_Love, Harry'_

It was a simple note, but everything about it made his insides sting. He enters his flat and leaves the flowers on his door step. He pretends that he doesn't realize he kept the note.

///

"Oh by the way, lad, I'm having a New Years party if you want to come," Niall tells Harry on the 26th. Harry stays silent as he picks the tiny fabric balls off of his joggers, his head resting on his fist. "Mate," Niall asks again, looking away from his video game. He pauses the game. "Harry!" Niall basically yells, nudging his thigh.

"What?" Harry finally replies with a shocked look on his face. "What happened?"

"I'm having a New Years party," Niall repeats with a chuckle, unpausing the whatever violent video game he's into at the moment.

"I dunno, Ni. I'm haven't really been in the party mood lately," he sighs.

"Yeah I know, you're super fuckin' depressing."

"Wow, thanks for the kind sentiment, Niall," Harry replies, his voice leaking sarcasm.

"Well, you are." Niall rolls his eyes. "Just come to the party, have a few drinks, chat with some people, and just get out of your flat, mate. You need to go out and have a good time. You won't get over him if you don't try."

"I don't want to get over him."

"Please?" Niall all but begs.

"Fine," Harry groans, submitting to his friend's wish.

"Thank you," Niall says happily, continuing his game. " _Fuck_! Why did you fuckin' shoot me you fuckin' wanker?"

///

It's 3:27 in the afternoon on New Years Eve when Louis feels the first pains of a dull pressure in his pelvis. It surprises him so much that he has to sit down in the shower while the warm water rushes over him. 

The pressure only lasts about 20 seconds. He takes a deep breath and thinks it might just be Braxton Hicks contractions again, because he experienced those last week and there's one more week until his due date. 

He assumes they'll go away fairly soon. 

///

It's 8 in the evening when Louis decides that it's best that he calls his doctor, because he's timed the pains and they're about 10 minutes apart and last longer than a minute now. The pain has also gotten more intense. 

He calls the doctor and breathes through his words before they tell him that he needs to wait to come in until the contractions are only 5 minutes apart. As for now, he should just try and get some rest. 

Try and get some rest, his  _ass_. It's hard to sleep when there's a child kicking the air out of you all the while sharp pains continuously fuck with your back, abdomen, and pelvis. There's no way Louis will be able to  _try and get some rest_. 

Fuck that. 

///

It's 10:42 at night when Louis feels a small rush of liquid make its way down his thigh. 

The uncomfortable feeling causes Louis's eyes to widen. 

Did his water actually just fucking  _break_?

"I guess I'm having a New Year's baby," Louis mumbles to himself, trying to stay calm as another contraction starts, the pain so terrible now that it's difficult for him to even speak. He can't wait to go to the hospital now, but there's no way he can drive himself. 

"Liam, I need you to come get me and take me to the hospital right now. I think my water broke," Louis says frantically into the speaker of his phone. 

"What? Louis, I'm back in Wolverhampton for the next few days," Liam says, the worry in his voice apparent. 

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Louis exclaims just before another contraction hits him like a train. "Oh fuck," he mutters to himself, grinding his teeth while he breathes through his nose as deeply and as calmly as he possibly can. 

"Are you sure it's not just those Braxton Hicks things?" Liam asks, hoping for the best. "They feel like the real thing."

Louis waits for his contraction to pass before he answers. "Yes, thank you, Liam, I'm quite aware what Braxton Hicks contractions feel like, but I can tell you that these aren't them," Louis seethes. "What am I going to do? You're the only person that I thought was in town that can take me. I don't think I can drive."

"Louis, call Harry."

"Liam, I can't call Harry! We broke up," Louis scolds. "I doubt that he would be willing to take me anywhere after what I said to him, and quite frankly, I don't want to see him."

"Do you want to give birth to your son in your living room by yourself and risk the possibility of any complications that could threaten either of your lives?" Liam asks sternly. 

"Obviously not, Liam," Louis scoffs. 

"Then call Harry, he's your only option."

"I could call an ambulance."

"In London traffic? On New Years? I don't think so. Harry lives 2 blocks away."

"Fine! I'll call Harry."

"Good man. Good luck, Lou," Liam says. 

Louis rolls his eyes and hangs up without saying another word. 

He immediately dials Harry's number and puts the phone on speaker as he feels another contraction coming on. He presses his hands against the back of his couch and squeezes it as hard as he can. 

"Louis?" Harry answers quickly, but louder than usual with hope filling his voice. Louis can hear music coming from the speaker of his phone, and he assumes Harry's at some random New Year's party. The thought of Harry grinding on random strangers passes through Louis's mind, and he frowns at that, but quickly shakes it out of his head.

Another contraction begins as soon as Harry answers, causing talking to prove quite difficult at that moment. "Harry," he manages to say as he tries his hardest to focus on his breathing. 

"Louis? What's wrong? What's happening?" Harry's voice gives away his worry. 

"Labor," Louis breathes out, squeezing his eyes together and taking in another deep breath through his nose. "Need you."

"Oh my god," Harry mumbles to himself.

"Please," Louis begs, on the verge of tears. The amount of pain and stress on his body and mind right now has got Louis the most overwhelmed he's ever been in his life. 

"Of course, I-I, I'm on my way," Harry says. "Excuse m-" is all Louis hears before the line cuts off. He almost feels bad about making Harry leave the party for him, but Louis doesn't really have any other options. 

"Thank god," Louis breathes out as his contraction ends. 

Louis has 2 more contractions by the time Harry shows up, in record time might he add, hospital bag in hand. 

"You still have that?" Louis asks, motioning to Harry's hospital bag. They had packed both of theirs together. 

Harry looks down at he bag opens his mouth, trying to think of an explanation. "I kept it in my car," he sighs. "I was hoping that you'd call," he answers. He looks to his right to see the dying peonies that he had left on Louis's doorstep days before. He swallows. "I see you got the flowers I left you."

Louis swallows, not really knowing what to say. "My water broke."

Harry's eyes widen. "Oh, shit. Okay, let's get you to a hospital then." Harry grabs Louis's hospital bag and diaper bag from the side of the door and slings them over his arm, grabbing Louis's hand afterwards and helping him to the car. 

The tingle that Louis gets in his heart when Harry touches him doesn't lower his stress levels even a bit.

"How'd you get here so fast? Weren't you at a party?" Louis asks, gripping his stomach and staring out the window. 

"It was at Niall's flat, so I was pretty close," Harry replies quietly, his knuckles white from how tightly he's gripping the steering wheel and keeping his eyes on the road.

///

They arrive at the hospital after 15 minutes of driving in awkward and uncomfortable silence. Louis had about 3 contractions during the drive, and Harry offered his hand to Louis for him to squeeze the life out of every time. 

Harry throws all of the bags over his arms once again before helping Louis out of his car and leading him through the doors of the hospital.

Of course, another contraction begins the second they step foot inside, and a nurse immediately notices, calling out for a wheelchair. 

"Hi, his name is Louis Tomlinson, and his water broke," Harry says, helping Louis to sit down as the nurse keeps the chair steady.

"Are you the other father?" the nurse asks. 

"Oh, um, well, I don't-um-"

"Yes, he's the father," Louis says, breathing deeply and closing his eyes to try and ignore the pain. 

Harry nods and tries not to read anything into what Louis just said. He knows that he might not mean it when the contraction passes. 

He follows Louis and the nurse into the private room where Louis (and hopefully himself) will be for who knows how long. 

It only takes about 10 minutes to get Louis into his bed and hooked up to all of the different machines. The nurse examines Louis and tells him that he's about 8cm dilated. Which of course means he can't get an epidural. That thought makes Louis cry for about 20 minutes with Harry doing everything right to comfort him. 

The arm of the CTG machine speeds up, signaling another contraction, and Harry hurries over to Louis's side to give him his hand as quickly as he can. He breathes through it with Louis and tries to ignore the fact that it feels like Louis is breaking his hand, because he realizes that Louis's pain is much worse. 

///

The hours drag on as they sit there in a very awkward silence. Neither of them know what to say, but Harry never fails to take Louis's hand when the contractions start. The contractions have gotten closer and closer while they've been at the hospital, so Harry pulled his chair up to Louis's bed to be ready for when the next one happens. 

"Thank you so much for coming," Louis says just after a contraction ends. He keeps his hold on Harry's hand, remembering how nice it felt to have their fingers interlaced. 

Harry replies with a faint smile, but his smile quickly turns into a frown, and his sad eyes fill with tears. He tries to hide his face from Louis by turning around, but Louis doesn't let his hand go. 

Louis frowns. "Harry-"

"Louis, I'm so sorry," Harry sobs, turning back to face him. "I really have no idea what I did, but whatever it was, I'm so, so sorry," he says, tears streaming down his face. 

Louis shakes his head and props himself up on his elbows. "Harry-"

"Please tell me what I did so I can fix it. I need you and the baby in my life," Harry pauses to take a breath and wipe a tear off of his face with the hand that isn't currently being held by the love of his life. "I love you, Louis."

Because Louis's body seems to have the most impeccable timing of anything ever, another contraction begins right at that moment. He grabs his belly with his free hand and squeezes Harry's with his other, forcing his eyes shut. 

Harry helps him breathe once again, but Harry's breathing is slightly more staggered this time. 

As Louis's contraction comes to an end, the nurse knocks on the door and enters the room. Harry immediately tries to conceal the fact that he's been crying by wiping away his tears with the long sleeves of his navy blue shirt. 

"Hey, Louis, how are you feeling?" the nurse asks with a smile. 

"Please get him out of me," is all Louis replies with. 

"Alright, let's see how many centimeters you're dilated and hope that you'll be able to push," she says, sitting down in her doctors chair. Louis bends his knees and spreads his legs slightly apart while the nurse checks. "10 centimeters," she says with a smile. "I'll get the doctor in here so that you can start pushing."

Louis nods, taking a deep breath and trying to prepare himself mentally with the fact that he got here too late to receive an epidural. 

Harry can tell that Louis is terrified of what he has to do next. 

"Hey," Harry says softly, squeezing Louis's hand and leaning over him, resting his elbows on the side of the bed. 

Louis looks up at him and smiles. "Hey."

"You're going to do great. It'll be over before you know it."

"Thank you, Harry." Louis looks at Harry for a moment and is about to say something else when the doctor and a couple of nurses walk in. 

"Hello, Louis!" she says cheerfully. "You ready to push?"

Louis nods. "Never been more ready." Harry squeezes his hand. 

The doctor gets herself into position and props Louis's feet up onto the stirrups. "I'll tell you when to start pushing, alright?" she asks, and Louis nods. 

///

More than half an hour of excruciating pushing and a lot of screaming later, a shrill cry sounds throughout the room.

The nurse calmly hands Harry a pair of strange looking scissors, and Harry cuts the umbilical cord with shaky hands, teary eyes, and a lot of pain in his heart. 

"Oh my god," Louis says through his tears as he watches the nurses take his son and weigh him, check his eyes and ears, and wrap him in a small blue and white polka-dotted blanket. 

Harry can't take his eyes off of the baby, and he has no idea how he feels right now. He watches as the nurse hands Louis the baby and all Harry can think to do is cry. 

"We'll give you two a moment," the doctor says as she and the nurses exit the room. 

Neither of them answer, as they just can't take their eyes off of the baby in Louis's arms. 

Louis looks up at Harry with tears in his eyes and notices the tears running down Harry's face as he stares at the baby. "Do you want to hold him?" Louis asks. 

Harry's eyes shoot up to look at Louis and Louis can see the look of shock on his face. "Really?" Harry asks, and Louis nods, motioning for Harry to take him from him. Harry wipes his eyes and reaches down, slowly scooping the baby up from Louis's arms. "Hi," Harry whispers down to the baby, stroking his cheek with his thumb. "He has your lips," Harry smiles, glancing up at Louis to see him smiling back at him. 

"He has your nose," Louis replies, laughing softly. 

That sentiment makes Harry start to tear up again. "Yeah, I guess he does," he says with a sniffle, looking back down at the baby. 

"Harry?" Louis asks. 

"Yeah?" he replies, keeping his eyes on the baby. 

"You know I love you too right?" Louis says softly. 

Harry's gaze shoots back to Louis with an extremely confused look on his face. "What?"

"I love you too," Louis replies simply. 

"Then why-"

"Because I was scared. Things were all happening so fast and then I figured out that you knew that he was yours before we supposedly found out together because you left your diary laying in the open and I thought it was your poems, and so I just used it as an excuse to freak out. I'm so sorry, Haz," Louis confesses, biting his lip. "I would love for you to be in his life. And in mine too, if you'd like."

Harry hands his son back to Louis before bringing the side railing of the bed down and climbing into the bed next to Louis. Louis scoots over slightly (with a slight intake of air as he feels the effects of having a child without an epidural) so Harry has enough room, but Harry just pulls them closer. With his arm behind Louis's head and the baby in Louis's arms, Harry brings his hand up to gently stroke their son's cheek and then up to Louis's cheek. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that I knew," Harry says and Louis shrugs. 

"It's in the past," he says with a smile. 

"Of course I want to be in your life. Both of yours," Harry says before bringing his lips to Louis's for the first time in over 2 months. 

Both are in absolute heaven.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: OK SO OMG OK SO ONLY THE EPILOGUE IS LEFT AND IT'S SUPER FUCKING LONG SO IT'S TAKING ME AWHILE TO FINISH UP BC IT SKIPS THROUGH DIFFERENT MOMENTS IN THEIR LIVES TOGETHER BUT TITTNY IS ALMOST FINISHED AND IM SO SAD
> 
> ANYWAYS
> 
> how did you guys like the chapter??? 
> 
> also this chapter is the reason that the fic is named what it is 
> 
> like, TITTNY started in January of 2017 and it's ending in January of 2018 (except the epilogue) w their child's birth bc he was born on New Years hah I'm not clever sry 
> 
> I also got the title from a song by A Great Big World called This is the New Year, so here we are
> 
> THANKS FOR READING, LOVE YOU GUYS


	34. Epilogue

It's a Sunday when Harry decides that he can't keep going back and forth between his and Louis's flats. 

He gets up the nerve to ask Louis about it only 7 hours after he arrives at his flat that day. 

"What if I brought all my stuff here?" Harry asks, trying to act nonchalant while he changes Quincy's diaper on the living room floor and Louis continues to declutter the kitchen. 

"Then your apartment would be empty and useless," Louis answers, obviously not getting what Harry was hinting at. 

"Yeah, but, what if I got rid of my apartment?" he continues, only glancing up at Louis while he finishes putting the clean diaper on Quincy. 

"Then where would you-" Louis begins, stopping abruptly when he sees the hopeful look on Harry's face as he rocks Quincy against his bare chest. "Oh," he pauses his cleaning for a moment, placing the pan back on the stove. 

"I know we've only been back together for a month, but I'm already over here every day and almost every night, so I was just thinking-"

"Okay," Louis nods. 

"-that it would just be easier if I moved in officially, and I-" Harry rambles. "Wait, what?"

"Okay," Louis giggles at his partner. "You can move in."

~

"Quincy's been so fussy today, I have no idea what's gotten into him," Louis groans, plopping himself down on his couch next to Harry. Quincy had just fallen asleep for the 2nd time today. 

Harry chuckles at his boyfriend. "He's a baby, Lou. They fuss."

"Yeah, but this is more than usual," he sighs. "I think the teething is starting. Poor thing." Louis frowns, turning his head to face Harry and resting it on the back of the couch. 

Harry smiles. "We have those teethers in the freezer that we can give him when he wakes up." Harry pauses after Louis nods at his statement. "I feel like he's growing so fast, Lou. I mean, he was in 3 month clothing last week, and I had to switch to 4 month onesie this morning after I changed him."

"Well, he's 4 months old, Harold," Louis laughs. "Almost 5. It's about time he traded up."

Their eyes connect and Harry pouts at Louis. "He's just so small," he whines, putting his hands out in front of him as if he's holding Quincy. "I don't want him to keep getting bigger."

"I know, love, I know," Louis coos, scooting closer to Harry so that Harry's head is leaning on his shoulder. "I don't either," he adds, taking his boyfriend's hand in his and placing a kiss on the top of his head. 

Louis is so happy with where his life is at this moment. His baby's sleeping soundly and the love of his life is resting his head on his shoulder. 

Louis glances at his boyfriend beside him and smiles when he sees his eyes are closed. 

"Hey, Harry?" he asks to see if he's awake.

Harry lifts his head from Louis's shoulder and opens his eyes, giving Louis his answer and a sweet smile. "Yeah, Lou?"

"I love you," Louis says simply. 

Harry grins wider at this. "I love you too." Harry doesn't think he'll ever get used to hearing those words coming from Louis. 

Louis sees his whole future when he looks into Harry's eyes, and he never wants that to change. And Harry's so good with their son. He loves referring to Quincy as 'our son' when he's telling stories to his friends and family. His heart skips a beat every time he thinks about it. He's so good with Quincy, and he's so sweet. He put up with Louis throughout the majority of his pregnancy, even if he did have a freak out towards the end. He never gave up on Louis, and Louis swears he'll never give up on Harry again. He gave him his son and his love. He loves Harry with his entire heart. 

"Marry me," Louis says before he can stop himself. He doesn't mean to say it, but he knows he means it. 

Harry's eyes widen, and Louis can't tell if he's just scared him off or not. "Wha-what?" Harry stutters, moving so that his right leg is bent in front of him on the couch and he's facing Louis. 

"Marry me," Louis repeats with a laugh, taking both of Harry's hands in his and stroking them with his thumbs. 

"Really?" Harry breathes, not quite believing what's happening. 

"Of course," Louis replies, staring into Harry's eyes, blue eyes meeting green. "I want to be with you for the rest of my life, and I just," Louis sighs fondly. "I'd really love to marry you, Harry."

"Oh my god, Lou," Harry whispers, covering his mouth with his hand as his eyes begin to water. 

"Is that a yes?" Louis asks with a nervous laugh. 

"Of course it's a yes," Harry answers with a sudden sob, tackling Louis with a hug so that he falls back onto the couch. 

Louis falls back with an 'Oof!' and a laugh, returning Harry's hug with all his might while he has little kisses peppered all over his face. 

"Harry, that tickles," Louis yelps just a little too loudly as he pushes Harry's lips away from his neck. 

Harry laughs at his boyfr - fiancé's reaction. "Shh, Lou, you'll wake Quincy."

"Well, then stop attacking me, you dork," he whispers with a giggle, covering his neck with his hand. 

"Kiss me, you fool," Harry replies, and Louis does as he says, wrapping his arms around his fiancé's neck and bringing their lips together. Just then, they hear a tiny cry coming from their son's room, and Harry sighs, pulling away from Louis's lips. "We woke him up," he chuckles. 

"I blame you," Louis jokes, and Harry fakes offense. 

"I'll be right back," he laughs, shaking his head and pushing himself off of Louis. He comes back a few moments later with Quincy in his arms. "He stopped crying when I picked him up," Harry shrugs, bouncing up and down slightly and rubbing Quincy's back. 

"He just wanted his papa, I guess," Louis smiles fondly at the two loves of his life. 

~

Harry and Louis are terrible at planning out when they want a baby. They had wanted to wait until they had been married for around a year before they even started trying to have another. 

Until one fateful day a couple of months before the pair's wedding. 

"Louis!" Harry calls from their shared bathroom in their new, larger apartment that they had just moved into recently. He can't control his breathing well, because he's in complete shock. "Louis!" he calls again, more urgently, staring down at the stick in front of him. 

Louis runs into the bathroom a few moments later in a panic. "What? What's wrong?" he breathes. 

"Louis, I don't think this apartment's going to be big enough," is all Harry can think to say. 

"What are you talking about, Harry?" Louis sighs, squinting his eyes together and pressing his fingers to his temples as he leans against the doorframe, relieved that his fiancé isn't dying. "I just left Quincy in his crib without a diaper on. He's going to stand up and ruin the sheets."

"Louis, I'm, I-I'm, it's just, I just took a, I can't believe, I just-we were going to-"

"Harry, speak words."

"Look!" he says, shoving the purple stick in Louis's face. 

When Louis registers what's being pushed into his face, his eyebrows furrow and he quickly snatches it out of Harry's hand, studying it closely. "Harry," Louis gasps, his eyes staying focused on the plus sign. 

"I was just feeling off all day, and I didn't think that it was going to come out positive, but it did, and I just," Harry trails off nervously, watching Louis's reaction closely. 

Louis finally looks up from the test, a huge grin breaking out onto his face. "You're pregnant," he breathes finally, his hands balling themselves into excited fists as he brings them up to his mouth. 

"Yeah," Harry breathes out a relieved laugh. "I'm pregnant," he repeats, finally able to comfortably show his excitement. 

"Oh," Louis gasps, jumping into Harry's arms and wrapping his legs around his waist in sheer joy. 

Harry squeezes his arms around Louis's tiny waist and presses a kiss to the side of his neck. 

"We're gonna have another baby!" Louis squeals, tearing himself away from Harry and jumping up and down. He stops abruptly. "Quincy!" he gasps, running out of the bathroom and towards the nursery to hopefully save the sheets the almost one year old is probably standing on. 

Harry chuckles at his fiancé and silently prays that he won't have to have his tux taken out before the wedding, because it's already quite tight. 

~

Harry's now 4 months pregnant and barely showing, much to his delight, because his tux fits perfectly.  

"I'm so happy for you, little bro," Gemma smiles as she pins a pink rose with white pearls attached to Harry's jacket. 

Harry just grins in reply and presses a thankful kiss on her cheek as he leans in to give her a hug. "Thanks for being here, Gem."

"Someone had to be here to help the little one keep track of the rings," she laughs, motioning to Quincy, who learned to walk just in time for his role as the ring bearer. 

"Pa," Quincy babbles, waddling over to Harry and making grabby hands at him, signaling that he wants up. 

Quincy looks just like Louis. He's blonde as of right now, but both Louis and Harry think that might change as he gets older. His hair is completely straight except for a couple of curls on the back of his neck. His eyes are almost the exact color of Louis's, except he has a little bit of gold in his irises. His eyelashes are probably one of Harry's favorite things about him, though. They're so long, and they look like Lottie's curled them.

Harry smiles and swiftly picks Quincy up and places him on his hip. "What's up, little one?" Harry coos to his son. 

"Dadada," he replies. 

"You want Dada?" 

Quincy nods, showing off his dimples that he got from Harry. 

"Okay, baby," Harry smiles, planting a wet kiss on Quincy's cheek, making the toddler giggle. Because Harry can never get enough of his little laugh, he presses more kisses on both of his cheeks and covers his teeth with his lips as he pretends to gnaw on the small boy's neck, making him scream with laughter. 

Once Harry's gotten enough giggles out of his son to hold him over for a few hours, he presses one more kiss to him cheek. "Auntie Gemma's going to take you to see Dada, okay?"

"Dadadadada," Quincy babbles again in excitement as he's handed over to his aunt. 

"Bye, sweetheart!" he says as Quincy and Gemma leave the room to go find his soon-to-be husband. 

Quincy waves to his papa by opening and closing his hand as he replies with a high pitched "buh-byeeeee!"

Harry hasn't seen Louis in almost 24 hours now, and he's having withdrawals. 

Only half an hour more, though, and they'll finally see each other again. In an hour, they'll be married, and Harry can't wait. 

///

"Hey, buddy!" Louis grins, taking Quincy in his arms and hugging the boy tightly. 

"He wanted to see you," Gemma smiles. 

"Is Anne with Harry yet?" Louis asks as he bounces Quincy in his arms. He can tell that he's a little sleepy, as he was supposed to go down for a nap an hour ago. 

"No, I keep trying to get mum in there with him, but she keeps messing about with the floral arrangements trying to get them perfect," she laughs. 

Louis giggles at his mother in law and shakes his head. "Lottie, will you go make sure Harry isn't overthinking anything? He's not good alone when he's stressed," he says to his eldest sister, and she nods happily, leaving the room. She already thinks of Harry as another brother. 

"He's not actually that stressed, y'know," Gemma says quietly, trying to let Quincy have a quick nap on his daddy's chest. 

"He's not?"

She shakes her head. "He's just happy. You're all he's ever wanted. Well, you and Quincy, there," she laughs. "Are you stressed?"

"Not about marrying him. He's all I've ever wanted as well. I'm stressed about everything going as planned," Louis admits with a shrug of his shoulders. 

"That's what my mum is here for, alright?" Gemma jokes. "You just take a deep breath and focus on my brother for right now. Whatever happens today, you get to go home to him for the rest of your lives."

"You're right," Louis nods, grateful to have a sister in law like Gemma. 

"Plus, once you two are officially married, you get to work on a second Quincy for me to play with," she grins at him jokingly, and he just rolls his eyes and chuckles at her statement. 

They haven't told anyone about Harry's pregnancy. Not one person. Louis and Harry are the only 2 that know as of now. 

They're planning on making the announcement at the reception during their speeches. 

"I'm going to go and try to get my mother to calm down, and you need to finish getting ready, so I'm going to go," Gemma says with a smile before she leaves the room. 

Louis sets Quincy down softly on the loveseat in the room and finishes up the quiff that he only does for special occasions now and waits for Felicite to come get him when it's time for the wedding. 

~

They honeymoon in the Maldives, leaving Quincy with Anne for a week. 

Everyone reacted beautifully to the newlyweds' news that they'll be bringing another child into the world. Anne was crying tears of happiness and Gemma and Louis's siblings were all jumping for joy and tackling them both in hugs. Their bestmen, Niall and Liam, and Naila were all overly excited as well. 

Liam brought a date to the wedding, and he was surprisingly easy to get along with. His name was Zayn, and him and Louis became fast friends easily. 

They spend the majority of their honeymoon in bed, exploring each other, and the rest of their time is spent at the beach. 

When Harry says he loves showing off his baby bump, he's not kidding. He refuses to wear any swimming shorts other than his favorite yellow ones that show his tummy off nicely. 

They're both on top of the world. 

~

"Louis," Harry starts slowly as Quincy and Darcy, now 6 and 4, chow down on their mac and cheese. 

"Harry," Louis replies, copying the younger man's tone as he does the washing up (which honestly makes Harry want to bend him over the counter, but for the sake of the kids, he restrains himself).

"I've been thinking, since we've been talking about having another baby and all," he continues, slightly nervous about his proposition, but not really. 

"Did you change your mind and want me to have the baby, love?" Louis asks, cocking an eyebrow in Harry's direction. 

"No, it's not that, it's just," he sighs. "I read something recently talking about how there are millions upon millions of children in the world who need a home whose parents died or gave them up or this or that, and how terribly they can be treated in the foster system, and I was just thinking that instead of having another baby, we could, like, adopt a child."

Louis hums, taking an interest in what Harry's saying. "I haven't thought of that," he says honestly. "I think it's a great idea, though," he smiles. 

"Really?" Harry says excitedly, his face lighting up. 

"Why not?" Louis giggles, and Harry immediately stands from his place at the bar, rushing over to entangle Louis in a hug.

He brings their lips together, while keeping his arms wrapped tightly around Louis's waist, and repeatedly places short but sweet kisses on Louis's mouth. "I'm so excited," he says truthfully, before kissing Louis again. 

~

It's almost 2 years later when Harry and Louis receive the call they've been waiting for for what feels like forever. 

And it couldn't have come on a more hectic day. 

"No, baby, we don't have time to stop, papa's late for work, and I need to get you both to school," Harry says calmly for the 3rd time as he drives through the early morning London traffic. 

"But, papa, I need to bring tissues to school! It's for extra credit," Quincy whines again, kicking his feet against the back of the passenger's seat. 

"Quincy Jay Tomlinson, I said no, and if you keep throwing a fit, I'll pull this car over," Harry warns in his best mom voice. Quincy pouts and folds his arms, but he stays quiet. 

"Ha-Ha! You got in twouble!" Darcy teases, and Harry's about had enough of their bickering this morning. 

First, Darcy threw a tantrum because Quincy accidentally put on the socks that she had laid out for herself the night before. 

Once Louis got through that mess with them (which was only able to be settled by giving Darcy a pair of Quincy's socks as 'payback'), Quincy burned his tongue on his oatmeal because Harry forgot to warn him that it was hot, so he forgot to blow on it, which resulted in the 20 minutes that Harry should have been using to get dressed being used up by trying to get Quincy to calm down and just put the damn ice on his tongue. It was, of course, too cold. 

These 2 things led to a late Harry and an even later Louis, hence why Harry was deemed the one to take the pair to school today. 

"Darcy Anne, be nice to your brother," he says, glancing at her in his rear view mirror. 

"Sowwy, Quincy," she sighs. 

"Thank you," Harry breathes, tightening his grip on the wheel slightly. 

///

When Harry arrives at work (half an hour late), he's met with 13 missed calls, 42 unread emails, and a pile of paperwork stacked so high, Harry thinks if the tower fell, he'd suffocate. 

He groans and lays his head on his keyboard in preparation for all of the weeding out he's going to have to do to decide which cases he takes. 

Harry's become one of the most sought-out lawyers in London, and while it is quite nice most of the time, he absolutely  _dreads_  the paperwork. Don't get him wrong, though, Harry loves his job. But, he loves the action-filled part of his job where he gets to fight for his clients and help make the world a better place. Not this part. He hates this part. 

Louis... hates his job, to say the least. He's no longer a secretary, but rather the head of Human Resources for some rich dude's business. Despite the nice pay raise he was able to receive with the job, nothing else about it is good for Louis. 

Louis truly thought that as the head of HR, he wouldn't get harassed by his boss as much as he does, but since he's the boss, Louis's reports on him don't go very far. He hasn't told Harry about his boss either, because it would just worry him too much. 

"Hello there, Louis," the voice comes from behind Louis and he screams internally at the sound. Might as well be nails on a chalkboard. 

"Hello, Mr. Wootton," he mumbles back without turning around as he finishes up some paperwork on some asshole at a separate location. 

"Why so formal?" the creep asks, sitting on the corner of Louis's desk and 'accidentally' knocking over the framed picture of his family. 

"I'd actually prefer if you'd call me Mr. Tomlinson, as I've told you 9 million times before, but you don't seem to listen to me," he replies with clenched teeth as he stands the frame up once more. "Now if you'd excuse me, I'm trying to do my work."

"You look good in all black, you know," Wootton says, ignoring his statement and pushing Louis's arm out of the way to try and get a better look at his outfit. 

"Please don't touch me, Wootton, it's very unprofessional," Louis says, terribly annoyed. 

"You know, Louis-"

"Mr. Tomlinson."

"We don't  _always_  have to be professional around here," he says, trying to wink, but he's just such a rat. 

"I would prefer to keep it professional, thanks."

"Any new tattoos I should know about?" he asks, tugging at the sleeve of Louis's blazer. 

Louis shrugs his nasty hand off. "Okay, Mr. Wootton, I need you to leave my office."

"You tweeted that you recently got some new ink, and I just want to have a look, what's so wrong with that?" Wootton continues. "Is it in a not safe for work space, because I could just close the door and-"

"That's  _it_!" Louis exclaims, aggressively scooting his chair back and opening his drawers, taking out every personal item he has in his office and putting it either in his briefcase or in the tote he has with him, saving the frame for last. 

"What are you doing?" Mr. Wootton says, confused. 

"I'm leaving," Louis says, closing his briefcase and slamming his drawers shut. 

"You can't leave, you have work to do!" Wootton calls after Louis as he walks out of his office. 

"Not anymore!" Louis calls back, laughing bitterly as he steps onto the elevator. "I  _quit_!" he says just before the doors slide shut. 

///

Louis made sure to text Harry that he was picking up the kids, and Harry must be having an extremely stressful day, because he didn't even ask why he was off work so early. 

He stops at the store on he way home and gets Quincy the tissues he needs for class, because he asked nicely, and when he gets home, he gets the two started on their homework and dreads the conversation that he's going to have to have with his husband later that night. 

It's about 2 hours later when Harry gets home from work. Slightly later than usual, but that makes sense seeing as he arrived late to work this morning. 

"Hey, love," Harry says with tired eyes as he gives Louis a sweet peck on the lips. 

"How was work?" Louis greets, taking Harry's bag from him and setting it near the couch, because Harry looks exhausted. 

"Absolutely horrendous," he groans as he sits down on a barstool in their kitchen. "I honestly don't even want to get into it right now," he continues, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes. 

Louis nods and approaches Harry from behind, wrapping his arms around his husband's waist and pressing a kiss to just below his ear. "We can do something else instead," he whispers suggestively, nibbling on Harry's earlobe, causing the younger man to hum contently and spin around on the stool so that Louis's between his legs. He grips onto Louis's hips and brings him closer so that their groins are pressed against each other. 

"Where are the kids?" Harry whispers, only centimeters from Louis's lips as he runs his hands up and down his torso. 

"Upstairs, playing," Louis whispers back, and that answer is all Harry needs to press their lips together. 

It's been awhile since the two of them have been able to make out in the comfort of their kitchen, and it's quite exciting for the both of them. A little too exciting, as the kiss is quickly becoming more urgent as Louis balls up Harry's shirt in his fists and pulls him closer to him, if that's even possible. They're both breathing heavily, and Harry's hand slips under Louis's shirt and traces the dip in his spine, before sliding under Louis jeans and squeezing his ass lightly, making him moan softly into Harry's mouth. 

They haven't been able to have sex in about a week, and Louis hopes to god that this is their chance. His hopes are shattered though, because Harry pulls away suddenly. 

"Wait, so, why did you get off of work so early?" he asks randomly. "Was today a half day?" 

Louis just wants sex, why did Harry feel the need to stop their heated make out session for that question, just  _why_?  

"Well,  _actually_ , Harry, Hazza, love," Louis starts, and Harry automatically gets the familiar look of 'oh god what did you do' on his face. 

"What happened?" he sighs. 

"I kind of quit?" Louis says with nervous laughter, and Harry's eyes bug out of his head. 

"Louis, what the hell?" he asks, incredulously. 

"Yeah," Louis bites his lip. 

Harry stands up and leans his back against the counter while he rubs his eyes with his hand. "Louis, why would you quit your job without even discussing it with me first?"

"It's not a big deal, alright, Haz? Most of the money I made went straight into the college funds anyways. You make enough for the both of us. I've always wanted to be a stay at home dad, you know I have," Louis pouts, moving closer to Harry again and placing a hand on either side of his waist. 

Harry furrows his eyebrows seeming slightly angry, but still being gentle with his husband as he places his hands above Louis's elbows and rests them there. "That's not a decision you make by yourself, Louis," he scolds. 

"I'm sorry, Harry. I just can't handle me boss anymore, he's a total dickhead," Louis says, leaving major details out. 

"I can't believe you would just up and quit your job without even so much as warning me," Harry says, sounding only only a bit angry, but mostly hurt that he wasn't involved in the decision. The phone begins to ring before Louis can finish, and usually they don't answer the calls on their landline, because it's almost always telemarketers, but Harry's upset, and he doesn't want to listen to what Louis has to say right now. 

"I wasn't expecting to quit, Harry, I-"

"Hello?" Harry answers the phone passive aggressively, cutting Louis off in the process. 

Louis scoffs at the action and folds his arms together, beginning to tap his foot impatiently. 

"Wai-wait,  _what_?" Harry says, his eyes going wide as he quickly moves a hand to Louis's arm in what seems like excitement, which confuses Louis. 

"What's wrong, Haz? What's going on?" Louis asks, worried and Harry shushes him, which kind of pisses him off, but he's still concerned. 

"Where? When?" Harry asks, the hand on Louis's arm, moving to his mouth shortly after. Louis really wishes they knew how to work the speaker phone on the landline right about now. 

"Oh my god," Harry mumbles, tears beginning to form in his eyes, and now Louis's really worried. 

"Harry, is everything alright? Is someone hurt?" Louis pleads, holding on to Harry's arm to try and get some of his attention. 

"Yes, absolutely! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Harry says as the first tear falls. He hangs up directly after and has to immediately sit down for fear that he might fall over. 

"What the fuck, Harry?" Louis shakes him. 

Harry looks up at Louis with glistening eyes and a grin growing on his lips. "There's a 2 year old girl in Ethiopia who needs a family," Harry says quietly, in disbelief. 

"W-what?" Louis gasps, a hand raising to cover his mouth. 

"Her name's Adia," Harry grins, tears now rushing down his face. 

Louis mumbles a quiet "oh my god" and throws himself into Harry's arms in celebration. 

"I can't believe it," Harry laughs, pulling away from Louis just enough to look into his eyes before he kisses him over and over again. 

Louis begins to giggle, giddy as ever as Harry stands up and spins him around in his arms before kissing him once more. 

"Ewww," Quincy says as he approaches the bottom of the stairs with Darcy not far behind him.

///

Harry and Louis finally meet their daughter 4 months later after leaving Quincy and Darcy with Harry's mother for the week.

Their first real-life glimpse of Adia makes both of their hearts skip a beat. She's tiny, as most 2 year olds are. Her hair has been pulled out of her face and placed in a small bun on top of her head, and her dress is white with blue line designs covering it. She's wearing a necklace made of a black string with a small green stone hanging on her chest. The tiniest flip flops Harry thinks he's ever seen cover her feet, and he almost starts crying again. He controls himself.

Neither of them were sure if she really understood what was happening today. That she was being taken from the place she's been her entire short life and brought to a country with a completely different culture. Of course, they planned on keeping her as in-touch with her culture as possible.

She's minding her own business as she sits on a step with a children's book in her hands, not really reading, but turning the pages every once in awhile when she gets sick of the colorful page in front of her. She looks up once and Louis gasps at how beautiful her eyes look, even from across the room. Her big brown doe eyes.

"Would you like to meet her?" a woman with a soothing voice and a thick accent says from in front of them. They hadn't even noticed her presence until she spoke.

They nod, the pair both nervous and extremely excited.

"Adia," the woman says softly as she approaches the little girl. Adia looks up at her for a moment, before looking back down at her book and flopping it around. "She can be quite shy. Try sitting on the floor with her and playing."

They do as the woman says, and sit on the floor in front of Adia. She immediately pauses her book shenanigans and stares at the two random men in confusion, because she obviously doesn't recognize them. 

"Hello, Adia" Harry starts with a soft smile, leaning forward slightly and putting his hand on the ground in front of him to try and show that he's safe. "Hayi," he continues, trying to recall the basic words of Amharic that he learned for her.

She continues staring at the pair, but slowly raises her hand, opening and closing her fingers to return his hello.

"We're your new daddies, Adia," Louis says gently. "Abayē ina papa," he continues, motioning to himself and then to Harry to tell her that he's daddy and Harry's papa.

The girl tilts her head at Louis, but looks down at her lap soon after, picking up a different book this time. It's smaller, but thicker, and the pages are made out of some sort of hard cardboard. 

Louis and Harry glance at each other, both of them biting their lips in anticipation.

She stands up from her place on the step a moment later without looking up from the book. The book is small, but still too big for her to hold with one hand, so she grips it on two sides with her tiny hands and slowly waddles her way closer to Harry and Louis, making them both take in small breaths of air through their noses.

She walks in between them, and they both feel slightly hurt as they think that she's walking away from them, but then she stops in between them. They both could cry tears of happiness at that moment, but they don't, because she's two, and she most likely doesn't understand happy tears yet.

She finally looks up from her book after she plops herself down on the ground between the two very happy daddies. She studies both of them for a moment, before opening the book to the very first page and pointing to the black text.

"Papa, read," she says to Harry, and the sentiment forces Harry to have to choke back his tears as they both scoot closer and begin to read their first of many books to their daughter.

~

"Dad!" Quincy yells as he runs down the stairs of Harry and Louis's home.

"What's up, Quince?" Harry yells back as he finishes tidying up the house for their annual barbecue before the guests arrive. "Your dad's in the backyard preparing the grill."

Quincy huffs his way into the living room where his papa is and folds his arms in front of him. "Papa, why does Darcy get to have her girlfriend over for the barbecue, but I can't have mine?"

Harry furrows his eyebrows at the question and stops dusting. "Who said you couldn't invite Lily over?"

"Dad did!" he groans.

Harry rolls his eyes and sighs, walking over to the back door and sliding it open. "Love, could you come here for a moment?" he calls to Louis.

Louis looks up from the grill and immediately makes his way over to Harry and Quincy. 

"Did you say that Quincy couldn't invite Lily over for the barbecue?" Harry sighs.

Quincy gives Louis a look and keeps his arms folded as he awaits his answer.

"Last time you invited a girl over for the barbecue, I found you in the shower with her, so excuse me for being hesitant to allow it again," Louis says with a raised eyebrow and a hand on his hip.

" _What?_ " Harry shouts, looking back and forth between the two as Quincy's cheeks turn red. "And you didn't feel the need to share that information with me?" he asks Louis.

Louis shrugs. "You cried when he kissed Niall and Naila's daughter on the cheek when he was 7 because you said he was growing up too fast, love. I wasn't about to have that conversation with you."

Harry takes a deep breath to calm himself down. "Quincy, you're 18. Invite who you want, and you can do whatever you want in your dorm at uni, but you're not allowed upstairs while you're here," he says, and Quincy smiles, before running back up to his old room. "I'm not very pleased with you at the moment," he says to Louis.

"It was 2 years ago, Curly," Louis laughs. "I'm sure you'll get over it."

"No Harry for you tonight," Harry concludes, causing Louis to gasp.

"Now, don't be so rash, Haz."

"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard," Darcy says as her and Adia make their way into the living room. "There are pre-teen ears here, please proceed with caution," she jokes, motioning to Adia.

"You act like I'm oblivious to what they're talking about," Adia gags.

"Adia, come help Daddy set up out back before people arrive," Louis laughs, leading the 12 year old outside. She groans, but follows him nonetheless. Gotta love pre-teens.

///

It's about an hour later when everyone begins to flood in for their party. They host a barbecue once every summer to celebrate the end of the school year, and everyone always makes holiday plans around the party, because it's nice to have everyone in one place, even if it's only once a year.

Surprisingly enough, Anne and Gemma are the first to arrive. Harry greets them warmly, as that's always his job at one of their cook-outs, because Louis's the one that always grills everything. He's gotten better at cooking over the years, but his favorite thing to do is grill, because if he burns the turkey legs, it still tastes quite good. And setting something on fire is always a fun 'party trick,' as he likes to call it. 

One by one, people file in until everyone who was able to come is here.

Harry helps Louis prepare the trays of food for everyone after he's finished barbecuing while all of their guests mingle with each other. They look around at all of their friends and family and whisper about how lucky they are to have both gotten everything they could have ever wanted in life.

Niall and Naila stand laughing with Liam and Zayn while Nick and Oli approach them from different angles, and Adia runs around the yard playing with all of their kids. Quincy and Darcy are both cuddled up to their girlfriends at a picnic table talking civilly with each other, which is always nice.

Harry hears Gemma snort in laughter and looks over to see her and Lottie looking like they're about to piss themselves with laughter as they lean on Fionn for support while Louis's other siblings and all of their families split off into separate groups, Anne somehow ending up in a 2 hour conversation about proper condom usage with Ernest-neither Harry nor Louis want to know why.

Harry and Louis look around and smile. Everything they've ever wanted is in their hands. Everything they've ever wanted is right here in front of them. Everything they've ever wanted is happening right now because of each other. Through all of Harry and Louis's ups and downs, neither of them would ever change a single detail of their lives, because every decision that they've ever made has led them to this very moment, and it's all they've ever wanted.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'M ACTUALLY CRYING RIGHT NOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT TITNY IS OVER.
> 
> I just want to say that I'm so thankful to everyone who's ever left me a sweet comment on a chapter, because there were a couple of times in there where I wanted to quit, but you guys kept me going :)
> 
> It may not have been the best ending, but the epilogue was 6000+ words, so hopefully that makes up for it lol
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading and supporting this fic in any and every way. I really hope you enjoyed.
> 
> -Cassidy


End file.
